BEIJING, Nov. 19 -- China's central authority launched the third round of top-level disciplinary inspections of this year on Tuesday, moving to sharpen the "Sword of Damocles" hanging above those in power.

Different from previous inspections, all inspections this round will be carried out with specific targets among 13 state-owned groups, including the Ministry of Culture, China State Shipbuilding Corporation, China Unicom and Sinopec.

Lasting about a month, the third round of inspections will focus on specific aspects of an organization - whether an individual, a certain project, a fund or a specific incident.

The method was first used to probe six state-owned groups earlier this year amid efforts to incorporate new styles of disciplinary inspection and maximize deterrence in the fight against corruption.

This style of inspection has much simpler procedures with the latest round being expected to take a month rather than the two months for regular inspections.

In addition, team members of targeted inspections often come from more diversified background, be it professional inspectors, officials from the CPC disciplinary agency and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, or part-timers from government organs such as the National Audit Office.

China's anti-graft chief Wang Qishan described the targeted inspection as a way to "infer the whole leopard by spying a spot" at a meeting of the central inspection team on Tuesday.

Inspectors should find general problems concerning corruption, malpractice, or official promotion by observing a specific problem so as to put a check on undesirable work styles, Wang said.

The central authority has so far covered 47 state-owned groups in the previous four rounds of central inspections since the new CPC leadership was inaugurated in 2012 and has found evidence of corruption, leading to punishment of wrongdoers.

As there are more than 280 state-owned groups covered by the central inspection team, targeted inspection enables the central authority to improve frequency and efficiency.

More is needed to be done, however, to nail down and standardize targeted inspections through the legal form to ensure this "Sword of Damocles" a lasting and powerful deterrent.