BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- How does a large ruling party that has long enjoyed the people's support keep moving forward without being lulled by its own success?
For the Communist Party of China (CPC), one key to doing so is to stay vigilant and never lose sight of potential risks that come with long-term governance. Faced with the dangers of complacency, inadequate competence, estrangement from the people and corruption, the Party has chosen to confront them head-on.
At the just-concluded fifth plenary session of its 20th Central Committee, the CPC reaffirmed its commitment to persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance.
The session took stock of what has been achieved and set out the fundamental task, guiding principles and plans needed to sustain that effort.
NOT A PASSING GUST
In 2014, when the term "full and rigorous Party self-governance" was first introduced, skeptics asked whether it would be a passing gust. Time has answered. The campaign has neither stopped nor softened.
The numbers show the scale of that sustained effort. From January to September 2026, disciplinary inspection and supervision organs across the country opened 800,000 cases and disciplined 680,000 people -- both figures well above the totals for the whole of 2014.
These increases require context. Broader oversight and stronger enforcement, aided by big data and other information technologies, have helped uncover more violations. The figures also point to an ongoing task: addressing corruption that has already taken root while preventing new abuses. This is no time to let up.
Looking at history, the pattern is evident. Attention to the Party's self-governance has never been an improvised matter. As early as 1926, just five years after the Party's founding, its Central Committee issued its first document aimed at combating corruption.
In recent decades, nearly every Central Committee of the Party has convened a dedicated plenary session on Party building. The emphasis has shifted with changing circumstances, but the issue remains a priority on the core political agenda of the Party, which now has more than 101 million members.
WHY PARTY SELF-GOVERNANCE MATTERS
This year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period, a critical stretch for advancing Chinese modernization. Next year, the Party will hold its pivotal 21st National Congress, a highly important meeting and an event of great political significance for both the Party and the country.
At this juncture, emphasizing the importance of persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance is particularly significant for the CPC, whose capacity to lead bears directly on whether Chinese modernization can ultimately succeed.
Much remains to be done: cultivating high-caliber officials, building a well-knit organizational system characterized by cross-level alignment and effective implementation, taking firm and coordinated action against corruption, and refining Party and state oversight systems.
The implications extend beyond China. As a major contributor to and stabilizer of global economic growth, China offers broad market prospects, stable policy expectations and a sound security environment as it advances Chinese modernization.
Through targeted oversight, disciplinary inspection and supervision organs are helping ensure certainty in development and provide strong guarantees for economic and social progress.
By persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance, and combining Party self-supervision with supervision by the people, the CPC has offered the world new experience in supervising and constraining the exercise of power within a political party. ■
