Xi demands implementation of 'mass line' campaign

BEIJING, Dec. 9 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday told local officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to seriously implement the "mass line" campaign and boost ties with the people.

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting at Zhongnanhai, the central authority's seat, attended by senior party officials of north China's Hebei Province.

Xi listened to a report by Zhou Benshun, party chief of Hebei, on the province's efforts in practicing the "mass line" campaign. He said measures should be tangible and be effective to better serve the people.

The one-year "mass-line" campaign was launched in June by China's leaders to boost ties between CPC officials, members and the people, while cleaning up four undesirable work styles -- formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

Being in charge of supervising campaign implementation in Hebei, Xi visited the province in July and September to inspect the local situation and give directions.

He reminded Hebei officials that they face stern challenges in implementing measures that they have decided to take during the campaign, as many will hurt the interests of someone.

Hebei will have to make tremendous efforts in fixing overcapacity in steel, iron and steel, coal, cement, glass and reducing air pollution, Xi noted.

He called on relevant authorities to enhance supervision of the implementation of the campaign and live up to promises made to the public.

Any attempt to soften efforts in handling problems should be criticized or punished, he said.

According to the report by Zhou, 17,000 official cars and 237 government building projects have been canceled during the campaign. Official gazettes have been reduced by 42 percent, and public spending on official receptions by the provincial government departments has fallen by 24 percent.

A total of 2,750 officials in the province have been punished for violations.

Xi warned officials that the upcoming second phase of the "mass line" campaign will be greater in scale and the problems faced by the officials will be more specific and difficult.

He urged the officials to have a systemic design on how they are going to conduct the campaign and make sure that the whole campaign will be subject to supervision by the people.