Pilot scheme seen as bid to strengthen China’s anti-graft tsar
Launch of new corruption-fighting agency will ultimately increase the power of Wang Qishan, analysts say
The overhaul of the state supervision system on the mainland, which has been kicked-started with a pilot scheme, is likely to give more power to the Communist Party’s top anti-graft body and pave the way for its chief,Wang Qishan, to stay in power for another term, analysts said.
The reform, to be first tried out in Beijing and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces, was meant to beef up state supervision of all public servants via a new anti-corruption body – the state supervision commission – Xinhua reported yesterday.
The scheme will later be implemented nationwide. The ultimate goal is to build a state anti-corruption organ under the Communist Party’s leadership that will integrate separate government anti-graft forces and cover all public servants.
Analysts said the introduction of the new state supervision commission, which will share an office and personnel with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which Wang heads, would be under the de facto control of the CCDI and further expand its power.
Wang, a key ally of President Xi Jinping, will be 69 when a leadership reshuffle takes place next year.