BEIJING, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- China has pledged to sustain its anti-graft drive in key sectors and target new and concealed forms of corruption, including those through virtual currency and cross-border financial activities.
At a key Party plenum held in late October, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee adopted a resolution on persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance, underscoring the Party's resolve to maintain a tough stance against corruption and strengthen oversight over the exercise of power.
Since the 20th CPC National Congress held in 2022, the Party has stepped up its fight against corruption in key sectors including finance, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), energy, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, and project bidding and tendering.
Special campaigns have also been reinforced to address corruption in grain procurement and sales, as well as in the football sector.
The resolution pledged to investigate and deal with cases involving both political and economic issues, collusion between government officials and businesspeople, and capital penetrating into the political domain.
It also vowed to crack down hard on graft of the "key few," especially officials in top posts, and young officials, and take stern action against corruption committed by leading officials' families and staff.
Over the years, some senior officials -- including former members of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee, senior military officials, former government ministers, and retirees who left their leading positions years ago -- have been brought to justice for violations of law.
In February 2026, revised regulations were issued to strengthen oversight of leaders of SOEs, prohibiting them from abusing power, engaging in unauthorized commercial activities or investments, and practicing nepotism or favoritism.
At a press conference on the guiding principles from the October plenum, a senior anti-graft official said the CPC had outlined priorities for steadfastly following a distinctive Chinese path to combating corruption.
They include maintaining a tough anti-graft stance, strengthening oversight of power, fostering a culture of integrity, and enhancing coordinated efforts to prevent corruption by rooting out audacity, opportunity, and desire, said Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and deputy head of the National Commission of Supervision.
The resolution pledged to target new and disguised forms of corruption such as receiving returns later for abusing one's power for the beneficiaries, reaping benefits from assets under the name of bribe givers or a third party, the "white glove" or agents concealing corruption activities in ostensibly legal forms, and the "revolving door" phenomenon of bureaucrat-merchant collusion after officials' retirement.
Such offenses feature increasingly concealed actors, diversified channels for illicit benefit transfers, and more obscured connections between power and money.
Investigating these practices requires accurately identifying the concealed parties, turning illicit benefits into quantifiable and comparable data, and developing specialized forensic technologies and tools to facilitate cross-border tracking and asset freezing.
A stronger legal framework is essential, with more clearly defined criteria for establishing criminal liability, determining convictions and imposing sentences for offenses such as offering bribes on behalf of an entity and brokering bribery.
The resolution also calls for greater use of technology and digital tools, including algorithms, data mining and cross-referencing techniques to uncover suspicious patterns, expose hidden connections and sharpen investigative capabilities. ■
