China’s top anti-corruption body gathers to map out strategy in Beijing

President Xi Jinping and other leaders will join more than 130 graft-busters at annual conference of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

Several senior cadres have been sentenced in corruption cases recently, including Lai Xiaomin who was handed the death penalty for taking bribes

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Published: 9:00am, 22 Jan 2021Updated: 9:00am, 22 Jan 2021

More than 130 of China’s top graft-busters and their provincial counterparts will gather in Beijing on Friday for a three-day meeting to map out their strategy for the year.

The annual conference of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the Communist Party’s top anti-corruption body – will be held at the Jingxi Hotel in the city’s northwest and will be attended by President Xi Jinping and other leaders, sources with knowledge of the meeting said.

It comes after several senior cadres were sentenced in corruption cases recently, including Lai Xiaomin, the former head of one of the nation’s biggest asset managers, China Huarong Asset Management. Lai was handed the death penalty in early January for taking 1.79 billion yuan (US$277 million) in bribes, and the Tianjin Higher People’s Court on Thursday rejected his appeal, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Other senior cadres awaiting trial on corruption charges include Hu Wenming, former chairman of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, and Wen Guodong, former vice-governor of Qinghai province, the report said.

Lai Xiaomin, the former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management, was sentenced to death for taking 1.79 billion yuan in bribes. Photo: Weibo

The Chinese leadership has said this year will mark the start of a new era in China’s modernisation, and that Beijing wants to put the focus on balanced and quality growth, technology and innovation.

It has also put an emphasis on the law and supervision in rooting out corruption but stressed that this must be done under the leadership of the party.