China’s Xi tells party ‘power is granted by people’ amid corruption crackdown

China must allow for more public and media oversight of the government and the Communist Party to ensure accountability and to uncover abuses of power, according to President Xi Jinping.

Addressing a group study session of the 24-member Politburo on Monday, Xi said the country needed a “clear, transparent and traceable” process to oversee the national anti-corruption drive, according to state news agency Xinhua.

“To fight corruption, [we must] regulate the exercise of power,” Xi said on the eve of the 104th anniversary of the party’s founding.

“[We must] improve the institutional mechanism to unify the authorisation, exercise and control of power, and make it clear, transparent and traceable. [We should] focus on finding loopholes in the exercise of power and address the system’s shortcomings,” he added, urging party members and cadres to always bear in mind that “all power is granted by the people”, and to respect the people, the party, the law and discipline.

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China airs 4-part anti-corruption series on prime-time TV amid renewed crackdown on graft

The rules were introduced in 2012 soon after Xi came to power and have been at the centre of an education campaign this year to curb excesses by party members, an issue Beijing believes is key to its public image and legitimacy to rule.

South China Morning Post