Chinese graft busters launch 'targeted' inspections of government and state firms
Following two rounds of misconduct probes this year, anti-corruption officials warn that the next visits will be shorter but not sweeter
The Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog has warned its probes are to become more "targeted and focused" ahead of the latest round of inspections of state-owned enterprises and central government departments.
Anti-corruption tsar Wang Qishan , who heads the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), made the pledge while announcing that the third round of inspections this year would start soon.
This time the commission has 13 ministries and state-owned enterprises in its sights, including China Radio International, energy giants Sinopec and Huadian Corporation, telecoms provider China Unicom and China Southern Airlines. The CCDI will also make surprise return visits to provinces covered earlier.
Compared to conventional two-month sweeps, the new-style inspections would last only a month but be far more intensive and effective as they would target problems that had already come to their attention, Wang said .
The upcoming inspections would, if needed, target "one person, one subsidiary, one project or one fund", he added.
"These special inspections are our new weapon in the battle against corruption," Zhang Jun, deputy secretary of the CCDI, told party mouthpiece "The [special inspection] projects further cut red tape.
"Only officials embroiled in misconduct scandals will be involved. The inspectors will be freed from holding seminars and conferences."
The two rounds of CCDI inspections this year covered the technology ministry, Fudan University and the food conglomerate Cofco.
Some inspections conducted in the last round also used the new approach, Zhang said, noting that a bureau chief at the technology ministry had been placed under investigation.
Observers said the targeted inspections would be a bold and effective way to uncover graft, as well as a deterrent.
"This initiative will build on the impact of the former routine inspections that are mostly geographically based," said Xiao Bin, a political science professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
It would cover "massive-scale construction projects" like the high-speed railways or the Three Gorges Dam, and would likely target "very important leaders" such as heads of government departments, Xiao said.
Zhuang Deshui, an anti-corruption expert at Peking University, said the new-style inspections would speed up the country's anti-graft drive. This time around, inspectors would "aim to solve problems instead of simply looking for them", Zhuang said.
"They will look into problems they already have some knowledge about, such as a project that has attracted many complaints."
Zhuang warned that the shift from broad sweeps to targeted inspections of top-level targets did not mean an end to anti-graft probes of regional governments.
