China Anti-Graft Watchdog Demands Final-Year Push on Local Corruption

China’s top anti-corruption organs held a national meeting on July 31, 2026, to coordinate the final year of a three-year campaign targeting grass-roots corruption and misconduct. Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) Deputy Secretary Liu Jinguo instructed anti-graft officials to intensify efforts against low-level corruption affecting daily public life. Key targets include high-standard farmland projects, rural collective assets, healthcare funds, and elder care services, with a strong emphasis on public participation and local administrative transparency.

Grass-roots corruption directly affects public trust in local governance and the delivery of public services. As this three-year campaign enters its final stretch, top leadership's focus on healthcare, rural finance, and elderly care underscores an effort to demonstrate tangible improvements in public welfare management.

China's top discipline inspection and supervision authorities convened a national coordination meeting on July 31, 2026, to push forward the final phase of a three-year campaign against grass-roots corruption and misconduct, according to reports published by Chinese state media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily. The conference was convened to study and implement recent directives from Chinese President Xi Jinping concerning corrupt practices that directly affect the daily living conditions and public services of ordinary citizens. Liu Jinguo, a member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), attended the session and delivered a speech detailing the work directives for the anti-graft bodies. During the meeting, Liu emphasized that 2026 marks the concluding year of the three-year special campaign. He instructed discipline inspection and supervision agencies across the country to maintain a rigorous approach with a 'nail-hammering' spirit, urging officials to carry out their duties diligently without wasting time. According to the directives outlined during the session, anti-corruption bodies are expected to play a centralized coordinating role, partnering with relevant state departments to execute targeted rectifications. Key priorities include four major nationwide enforcement areas: high-standard farmland construction projects, the management of rural collective funds, assets, and resources, the supervision of medical insurance funds, and the oversight of elderly care services. Authorities were also instructed to focus on addressing public petition issues in key livelihood sectors. In terms of enforcement strategy, Liu called for concentrating investigative resources to uncover and resolve major impactful cases. The focus remains on severely punishing 'fly and ant corruption'—a term used within China's anti-graft framework to describe low-level micro-corruption perpetrated by local officials. Beyond prosecuting individual cases, the campaign aims to address underlying systemic vulnerabilities, including institutional gaps and administrative oversight failures. Furthermore, the leadership stressed the necessity of public involvement and transparency in assessing governance outcomes. Local governments and party organs were urged to expand transparency in party and administrative affairs, ensuring that campaign success is ultimately evaluated based on public perception and direct citizen experience.