Appointment of top audit official to Party organ signals shift in China's anti-graft strategy

A personnel reshuffle in the Communist Party’s disciplinary forces in Shanghai appears to indicate a power transfer from local governments to the central anti-graft authorities, analysts say.

Hou Kai,  51, a former deputy director of the National Audit Office and a standing committee member of the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), was appointed as the head of the Shanghai Disciplinary Commission yesterday, replacing  Yang Xiaodu, age 60,  Xinhua  said. 

The appointment is significant, according to Zhu Lijia, a professor of public policy at the Chinese Academy of Governance,  because it showed the CCDI had started a restructuring process in line with the party’s recent announcement of a package of reforms following its third plenum meeting, which ended last week.

“His appointment signifies the personnel decision on regional CCDI officials is now determined at the central level, and that could enhance the independence of the disciplinary watchdogs,” Zhu said.

The party announced a series of reform plans after its third plenary session, including a new scheme that empowered the CCDI to oversee the appointment of lower-level disciplinary officials. Traditionally, the agency had little real power over such officials, who are  picked by local party committees.

“CCDI officials will have more freedom to fight corruption at the regional level by being separated from the local bureaucratic hierarchy,” said Zhuang Deshui, an anti-corruption expert at Peking University.