Strengthening China's powerful commission for discipline inspection under Xi Jinping, with a case study at the county level

In: The China journal: Zhongguo-yanjiu, Band 84, S. 29-50

Abstract

On becoming paramount leader, Xi Jinping, with the assistance of Wang Qishan, augmented the powers of the Commission for Discipline Inspection (CDI), the body charged with investigating wrongdoing by government and Party employees. To consolidate his power, Xi merged a number of different departments into a "great system of supervision and investigation," known as the National Supervisory Commission (NSC). The CDI acts as the core body of the NSC, and it scrutinizes cases of corruption and malfeasance in coordination with relevant departments. The most important aspects of this process are "placing a case on file" (li'an) and "detention" (liuzhi). This article seeks to throw light on the CDI's investigation process through extensive fieldwork carried out in County J. (China J/GIGA)