Senior CPC official calls for safeguarding Xi's core status

BEIJING - Senior Communist Party of China official Zhao Leji on Friday called for resolutely defending the core status of General Secretary Xi Jinping in the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party.

Zhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the call while attending a mobilizing meeting on the 19th CPC Central Committee's first round of disciplinary inspection.

Zhao, also head of the leading group of CPC inspection campaign, called for solid disciplinary inspection while implementing the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress.

Stating that the experience from inspections since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 should be developed in practice, he said disciplinary inspection is a major move in strict Party governance and a strategic and institutional arrangement for intra-Party supervision.

In the new era, disciplinary inspection is assured by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, Zhao said.

Efforts should also be made to examine the implementation of the Party Constitution and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, the official said.

He also underscored the importance of strengthening overall Party leadership, Party building, strict Party governance, as well as the need to secure a crushing victory in the fight against corruption.

The inspection should focus on detecting and solving problems, Zhao said, calling for more efforts on follow-up supervision of the inspected Party organizations to make sure that the problems are corrected in a timely manner.

Coordination should be strengthened between inspections at various levels to improve the system's efficiency, he said.

The official also asked discipline inspectors to remain loyal to the Party, keep studying Party regulations and laws, and maintain excellent conduct.