Chinese Communist Party tightens rules of behaviour for its members

Beijing: The ruling Communist Party of China headed by President Xi Jinping has issued a new set of rules to remove incompetent members deemed lagging in their faith, loyalty and performance, in a bid to further strengthen the party’s control over the conduct of its nearly 100 million members.

The General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee released regulations on Thursday outlining how underperforming and unqualified party members should be dealt with, aiming to ensure the advanced nature and integrity of its membership by providing institutional guarantees, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Comprising 27 articles, these new rules are crucial for exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance, an official from the Organisation Department of the CPC Central Committee told Xinhua.

They are essential for promoting the party's self-reform, establishing a team of Party members with strong beliefs, political reliability, reasonable composition, outstanding qualities, strict discipline and significant contributions, the official noted.

The CPC has more than 99.18 million members at the end of 2023, up by more than 1.14 million from 2022.

The party members in various walks of life and professions including in various ministries of the government carry significant influence in public affairs.

The party discipline stipulates that the members should be atheists.

After taking over the party leadership in 2012, Xi 71 who previously headed the CPC’s Central Party School specialising in ideology passed a rule in 2018 asking party members to give up religion.

Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) in 2018 said: “Party members should not have religious beliefs, which is a red line for all members … Party members should be firm Marxist atheists, obey party rules and stick to the party's faith … they are not allowed to seek value and belief in religion." About the new rules Xie Maosong, a senior research fellow at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University said, party membership is a necessity for those who want to climb the political or social ladder, but that many slack off after joining the party.

“The party is already very big. While it is growing in numbers, it must also control the quality of people who are in the party,” Xie told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

The Xinhua report said unlike disciplinary measures imposed on members who violate party discipline, such as corruption, the new rules specifically target members who lack revolutionary spirit, fail to fulfil their obligations, or do not meet the party's membership criteria.

In cases where a member fails to participate in regular party activities, pay membership dues in a timely and full manner, or maintain contact with their party organisation for a period of six months to two years, the member's party branch is required to address the issue and give the relevant individuals a deadline to rectify their behaviour.