China discipline watchdog's spending drops

BEIJING - Spending by the Communist Party of China's (CPC) discipline watchdog has dropped sharply amid efforts to improve work style and fight corruption, a report said on Tuesday.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the Ministry of Supervision have cut their conference expenditure for the first eight months this year by 84 percent and reception expenses by 52 percent, according to a report issued by the CCDI.

The agency also squeezed time for conferences and symposiums. A nationwide conference for the agency took only 20 minutes, the report said.

Departments under the agency have been streamlined to improve work efficiency, it added.

At the end of 2012, the CPC leadership began to promote an "eight-point" set of guidelines to ban extravagance and formalism from events attended by officials. Inspectors were sent to find clues of corruption and wrongdoing in various ministries and provincial regions.

The CCDI is taking the lead in implementing the "eight-point" guidelines, the report said.

The discipline agency also set strict control on overseas tours. During the first eight months this year, the number of groups traveling abroad dropped by 26.4 percent and the number of people by 16.8 percent.

As an attempt to curb bribery, the CCDI issued a circular in May requiring officials and employees working in disciplinary departments to discard "all kinds of membership cards received in various names."

By June 20, all current staff, or about 810,000 people, have submitted reports to prove that they are no longer holders of such cards, according to the report.