A Xinhua commentary datelined Beijing on Nov. 9, 2026, says “persisting in institutional Party governance and governing the Party according to rules” is one of seven strategic tasks and major measures in a decision adopted by the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The article, the ninth in a Xinhua series on studying and implementing the plenum’s spirit, was written by reporter Wang Ziming. It says the plenum deliberated and adopted the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues Concerning Unremittingly Advancing Full and Rigorous Party Self-Governance. On this task, the Decision sets out three areas of work: improving the system of intra-Party regulations, strengthening enforcement, and vigorously eliminating hidden rules.
The commentary describes the approach as using institutions to oversee power, affairs and personnel, and keeping power inside an institutional framework. It quotes Xi Jinping as saying that exercising strict Party self-governance depends on ideological education and, even more, on institutional safeguards; that relying on institutions is a long-term and fundamental course; and that this is an important lesson.
Intra-Party regulations
In February 2026, revised regulations on the clean conduct of leading personnel of state-owned enterprises were formally issued. The commentary says the new rules set out a negative list of seven categories and 58 prohibited acts, defining clearer boundaries for the exercise of power in state-owned enterprises.
It says governing the Party according to rules is a basic method of Party management, and traces intra-Party rulemaking from the Party program of the First CPC National Congress and the Party Constitution of the Second Congress, through a post-1949 resolution on strengthening Party unity and, after reform and opening up, guidelines on intra-Party political life. It says that since the 18th CPC National Congress, with Xi Jinping at the core of the Central Committee, the scale and results of institutional innovation have been unprecedented. As of June 2026, 2,674 intra-Party regulations had been formulated or revised, accounting for 79 percent of those currently in force, and a relatively complete system had taken shape.
According to the commentary, the Decision calls for scientific planning of intra-Party regulation-making; coordination of enactment, revision, abolition and interpretation; greater attention to systematic integration and supporting measures; rulemaking aimed at prominent problems and designed to be practical; and better mechanisms linking intra-Party regulations with state laws and regulations, so as to avoid overreach, overlap or gaps.
Enforcement
On Oct. 27, 2026, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision published a national summary of cases in September 2026 involving violations of the spirit of the central leadership’s eight-point regulation. The commentary says this was the 157th consecutive month of such monthly figures, and that publicizing typical cases and seriously handling problems shows a determination to enforce discipline strictly and see cases through.
It says the force of regulations lies in implementation, and that rules left unenforced lose credibility. It quotes Xi as saying that great effort must go into building institutions and setting rules, and even greater effort into implementation and enforcement.
The commentary says the stage of basically achieving socialist modernization has entered a key period of consolidating foundations and making an all-out effort, with strategic opportunities existing alongside risks and challenges and with more uncertain and hard-to-predict factors. It also says the “four tests” and “four dangers” facing the Party will persist over the long term. It does not list them.
It says the Decision identifies several points of effort: encouraging Party members and officials to study, abide by, carry out and uphold the Party Constitution; increasing public release of intra-Party regulations; and extending enforcement and supervision through the whole process of how Party organizations, members and officials perform their duties, and across regional, departmental, sectoral, grassroots and workplace governance. It says compliance should allow no special treatment and enforcement no exceptions, and that failure to follow orders or observe prohibitions should be corrected.
Hidden rules
The commentary calls hidden rules contrary to the Party’s nature and purpose, corrosive of formal institutions, and deeply harmful to Party and government conduct. It says that since the 18th National Congress the Party has increased efforts to address them and achieved clear results, but that practices such as seeking patronage, valuing connections over principles, and treating a personal note as weightier than an official seal still exist to varying degrees.
It quotes Xi as saying that the fundamental way to break hidden rules is to strengthen explicit rules, use what is upright to suppress what is deviant, and leave hidden rules without soil, channels or a market inside the Party and in society.
According to the commentary, the Decision requires establishing clear rules and advancing openness in Party and government affairs; seriously investigating and punishing association with, or acting as, political brokers and political swindlers; and improving mechanisms for dynamic monitoring, assessment and governance of the political ecosystem. It says explicit rules should be maintained over time, misconduct corrected, upright conduct fostered, and the conditions in which hidden rules spread reduced.
The commentary concludes that sound rules should secure fundamentals, enforcement should establish authority, and a cleaner atmosphere should clear entrenched problems, so that full and rigorous Party self-governance continues on an institutional track.
Original article: https://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/20261109/10580332d89945cb8b6cccd975d50c2b/c.html
