‘No separation of powers’: China’s top graft-buster seeks tighter party grip on government

Top graft-buster Wang Qishan has called on the Communist Party to tighten its oversight of all branches of power, saying there is “no such thing as the separation of powers between the party and the government”.

On the sidelines of the National People’s Congress on Sunday, Wang said the party should exercise oversight of all public bodies, including the NPC, the top political advisory body, the government and the judiciary.

“Historically the Chinese understanding of government is a broad one. In their eyes, all power branches belong to the government. There is no such thing as separation between the party and the government. There is only a division of functions. We must take a clear position and be straightforward on this issue,” Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Wang has been a key figure in President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign, which has been criticised for breaching laws and regulations. Some of the methods deployed by Wang’s agents – including the internal ­disciplinary detention process known as shanggui – have also been imposed on non-party members, raising concerns about abuse of power.

There have been calls since the 1980s for Beijing to limit the party’s power and to separate it from administrative branches to improve checks and balances.

But Wang, Xi’s trusted aide, brushed aside these suggestions, saying the party needs to tighten control over all aspects of public life and strengthen supervision over “all public servants who exercise public power”.