China vows to crack down on local authorities taking ‘excessive’ approach

The top decision-making body of China’s Communist Party has vowed to crack down on what it called excessive measures taken by local governments to implement national policies.

It did not directly mention Covid-19 controls, but comes as Beijing has started easing restrictions and as the party’s discipline watchdogs go after authorities at the local level for taking the measures too far.

Meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, the 24-member Politburo – led by President Xi Jinping – called for a continued tough stance on corruption, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

The Politburo also called for a “focus on correcting formalism and bureaucracy” and for “close attention” on problems including excessive implementation of policies, “arbitrary use of power, failure to take responsibility and inaction”.

It came days after Xi, in talks with European Council President Charles Michel in Beijing, acknowledged that people protesting against the country’s Covid-19 measures in Chinese cities last week were frustrated after three years of the pandemic.

China is starting to roll back those measures, though some local authorities have been reluctant to do so – apparently out of concern about a potential spike in cases.

Ahead of the Politburo meeting, some provincial anti-corruption bodies issued directives aimed at reining in Covid-19 controls imposed by local authorities, according to reports on the website of the national agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

One report said the discipline inspection commission in the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region had issued guidelines calling for its anti-graft officials to curb excessive pandemic controls there.

“[We should] resolutely correct practices such as ‘adding weight at every level’ and ‘one size fits all’,” the report on Tuesday said.

Two earlier CCDI reports said discipline watchdogs in southeastern Anhui province and Zhejiang, in the east, had issued similar instructions.

‘Big white’ army on China’s Covid front lines stands ready to take the fall

It marks a major reversal for the anti-corruption body, which had previously punished cadres over outbreaks of the virus, including by sacking or demoting them.

More than 1,200 officials – mostly from the party’s rank and file – have reportedly been punished for negligence on Covid-19 controls since the start of the pandemic, according to official media.

While most were penalised for lapses in controlling outbreaks, some lost their jobs because of a slow response or for taking excessive measures which had tragic outcomes that triggered public anger.

Deng Yuwen, a former deputy editor of party newspaper Study Times, said cadres would likely take seriously the latest message from the Politburo and the internal discipline apparatus – not to go overboard on Covid controls.

“The Politburo and the CCDI represent the party, which is firmly controlled by Xi. They have the power to promote or demote officials. Only with such power will people listen to them,” said Deng, who is now a scholar at the China Strategic Analysis Centre in the United States.

He expected the guidelines issued by discipline watchdogs to be more effective than similar instructions on Covid restrictions from the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued in recent months.