What’s new: China has released a new five-year plan to deepen its corruption crackdown in sectors such as finance, health care, sports, higher education and on state-owned enterprises, with an aim to stamp out “industrial, systemic and regional corruption.”
The announcement came as the party’s Central Committee passed the 2023-2027 work plan of the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group, an agency coordinating party disciplinary organs and government law enforcement departments.
The tougher campaign will extend to areas such as employment, entrepreneurship, social security, food and drug safety, and law enforcement will also be targeted, according to a Wednesday statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s top graft buster.
The anti-corruption group also urged party leaders to severely punish cases of embezzlement, misappropriation, and taking and asking for bribes.
The background: In July, China’s top graft busters launched a year-long anti-graft campaign on the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. The crackdown had ensnared at least 160 heads and Communist Party chiefs of hospitals nationwide as of mid-August.
Soccer has also been a target, with at least 14 senior officials or coaches affiliated with the Chinese Football Association caught in a sweeping anti-graft dragnet since November 2022.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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