Chinese Party newspaper urges tighter supervision of officials

BEIJING, Nov. 17 (Chinese media) -- The People's Daily, the

official newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is to publish a

commentary on Tuesday calling for rigorous education and tight supervision of

officials and Party members as a way to weed out corruption.

The article comes after a series of

mass incidents (protests), food scandals and work safety disasters this year. It

said the incidents showed that some Party members and officials were "callous

and indifferent to the interests and life security of the public".

It also brought up cases in which officials fled to

foreign countries or sent family members and assets overseas, which it said

showed that supervision of officials in some places is too "loose" and "weak".

A recent case involved a municipal official from east

China's Zhejiang Province, who overstayed more than 40 days in France and

refused to return home.

To prevent such cases and ease public complaints, the

newspaper said, "We must rigorously educate officials and put them under strict

supervision."

It said that improving education and supervision of

officials must be seen as an important task in the Party's one and a half-year

campaign to learn and implement the Scientific Outlook on Development. The

campaign was launched in September.

The Scientific Outlook on Development emphasizes

comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development.

Through the campaign, the CPC expects its officials

to change work styles that don't meet the requirements of scientific development

and find solutions to issues people complain about most.

The newspaper also urged the authorities to keep

reforming the system of official selection to "form a correct guideline that

emphasizes both political integrity and professional competence of officials but

has a priority on the former.

"Those who have bad work styles and cannot discipline

themselves and arouse public complaints must be demoted. And those who trade

power for money and violate the law and discipline cannot be tolerated and must

be punished," the newspaper said.