China's senior officials face rare criticism by peers

Senior officials at the regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have all gone through a rare "criticism and self-criticism" among peers since early September, Xinhua learned from authorities Tuesday. As part of the national "mass line" education campaign, members of the party leadership in all the 31 provinces and autonomous governments and the quasi-military Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have examined their own shortcomings and as well as that of their colleagues at what is known as "Democratic meetings." The one-year educational campaign was launched in June to boost ties between CPC officials, members and the public, while cleaning up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. During the meetings, party officials examined their own conduct, laid out major problems, analyzed the causes and set down plans for rectification. The most mentioned problems include obsession with meetings and documents, excessive pursuit of development speed, lack of resolve to reform, alienation from the people and extravagance with public funds. The Party's regional leaderships are taking measures to solve the problems exposed during the campaign.