Academics at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences assessed on ideological purity

Scholars working for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) should be judged mainly on their loyalty to communist ideology, the People's Daily has said, in yet another warning for the think tank's academics to toe the party line.

The party mouthpiece said adherence to orthodox ideology should be the top criterion for assessing the performance of those working for CASS, which is the central government's top think tank and a premier source of insight into social policy.

"CASS will list ideology as criterion for the assessment of cadres and [those who] violate political discipline will be fired without exception," the article said.

Zhao Shengxuan, vice-president and deputy party chief of CASS, was quoted as saying that the academy would "treat political discipline as a criterion of the utmost importance in the assessment of the academics".

The warning comes after an official with the party's anti-graft and discipline watchdog warned of "infiltration by foreign forces" in the academy.

In an internal speech on June 10, Zhang Yingwei, head of the party's discipline inspection office at CASS, accused the institute of being "infiltrated by foreign forces" and "conducting illegal collusion during [politically] sensitive times".