Personnel Political Work

Great Wall Forum | Keep a Close Watch on the 'Critical Minority,' Strengthen Effective Oversight

长城论坛｜紧盯“关键少数”，加强有效监督

PLA Daily (解放军报) 4 June 2026

Summary

The Central Military Commission issued new measures on the education, management, and oversight of senior military cadres, with the PLA political press framing the directive as a response to persistent failures in supervising principal officers—specifically the problems of unilateral decision-making, unchecked control over budgets and personnel, and the conversion of command domains into personal fiefdoms beyond collective leadership. The article documents the institutional acknowledgment that routine oversight mechanisms—from above, from peers, and from below—remain chronically weak, and that past anti-corruption cases stemmed as much from structural oversight failure as from individual moral collapse. The explicit call to deploy big data and cloud computing for 'digital clean-governance archives' and to improve information-sharing among oversight bodies extends the CMC's disciplinary infrastructure into technical surveillance of the senior cadre corps, raising the question of whether this directive is a response to specific recent cases or a preemptive tightening ahead of a leadership transition cycle.

Translation

Keep a Close Watch on the 'Critical Minority,' Strengthen Effective Oversight

■ Mo Fuchun

Governing the Party means first governing leading cadres well; strictly governing the Party means, above all, strictly governing officials. The Central Military Commission recently issued the "Several Measures on Strengthening the Education, Management, and Oversight of Senior Military Cadres," with a focus on strictly managing principal officers so that they lead by example, and on establishing rules and norms to strengthen the supervision and management of principal leaders. This is an important measure for deepening political rectification training (政治整训) and advancing the political approach to army-building (政治建军), and it carries important guiding significance for strengthening the revolutionary tempering (革命性锻造) of the senior cadre corps.

Chairman Xi has emphasized: "Power without oversight will inevitably lead to corruption—this is an iron law." The principle that power entails responsibility and that the exercise of power is subject to oversight is a universal rule governing how modern political parties operate, and it is also our Party's tried-and-true method for strengthening cadre-force development and maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity. As the saying goes: high position does not permit the arbitrary exercise of power; heavy authority cannot be used for private gain. Principal leaders and Party committee standing committees are the "critical minority" (关键少数), and principal leaders are the key within that "critical minority." The weightier the responsibility and the more important the post, the more oversight must be strengthened. Practice has proven that making good use of the "tightening spell" (紧箍咒) of oversight helps prevent leading cadres from arbitrarily abusing power and violating rules in their work, and encourages them to act with integrity and develop in a healthy manner.

People will not follow if the leader does not set the example; they will not trust if the leader does not go first. Leading cadres who lead by example and start with themselves issue a silent demand and a wordless call—their every word and action, their every move, imperceptibly shapes a prevailing atmosphere and promotes a set of values. Military leading cadres, especially senior cadres, carry a burden of a thousand jun on their shoulders and have ten thousand troops behind them. They are the load-bearing pillars of the cause of strengthening the military, the lead geese in overcoming difficulties, those responsible for strictly governing the Party, and the weathervanes of conduct and image—playing a critical, exemplary, and leading role. If oversight and management of leading cadres are relaxed, any problem that arises can easily produce a "broken windows effect," generating catalytic and chain reactions, and even causing regional, systemic, and wholesale collapse-style corruption (塌方式腐败).

Trust cannot substitute for oversight; trust without oversight is permissiveness. It must be clearly recognized that in practice, the chronic ailment of "oversight from above is too distant, oversight from peers is too soft, and oversight from below is too difficult" has not yet been eradicated. The phenomenon of a minority of leading cadres making decisions as a "one-man show" (一言堂), controlling spending with "one pen," and deciding personnel with "one word" still occurs, with some even turning the work and domains under their charge into "private fiefdoms" (私人领地) beyond collective leadership and oversight. As Chairman Xi has incisively pointed out: "The reason many top leaders who have violated discipline and law have fallen from 'good cadres' to 'prisoners in the dock' lies partly in the wavering of their ideals and convictions and in external 'hunting' (围猎), but even more in the failure of day-to-day management and oversight."

As the saying goes, strictness is love; laxity is harm. Ensuring that leading cadres remain at all times within organizational management and under institutional oversight may on the surface appear to impose more restrictions and leave less freedom, but in reality it adds a breakwater and a safety lock to their growth and advancement. For leading cadres, this is both a strict requirement and an expression of care and concern. Leading cadres at all levels must recognize from a political standpoint that supervisory responsibility is embedded within leadership responsibility; they must strengthen their awareness of oversight and fulfill their oversight duties. They must correctly regard oversight by Party organizations and by officers and soldiers, have the courage to correct mistakes, and genuinely improve their work. They must become accustomed to working and living in an environment of oversight and constraint, proactively accept oversight, and must absolutely never refuse or evade oversight.

Rigorous intra-Party organizational life (党内组织生活) is an effective means of overseeing the "critical minority." Leading cadres should participate on schedule in dual organizational life (双重组织生活), regularly report their thinking to the organization in the capacity of an ordinary Party member, and accept criticism and oversight from all. Party organizations at all levels must also make good use of the sharp instrument of criticism and self-criticism, foster a strong atmosphere of "strict self-criticism, the courage to criticize others, and the willingness to accept criticism," promptly sweep away "dust" and eliminate "pathogens," and truly bring into play the function of organizational life in pulling at sleeves and treating illness before it manifests (拉袖子、治未病), allowing the "critical minority" to grow and advance through mutual reminders and mutual supervision.

Whether oversight produces results depends critically on whether it can be sustained through institutions, integrated into daily work, and practiced consistently. At all levels, both traditional methods must be used well—leveraging opportunities such as heart-to-heart conversations, attendance at meetings, and investigative supervision to go deep into the grassroots to identify problems, detect early signs, and gather leads, conducting targeted analysis and assessment, and flexibly employing methods such as summoning for questioning (约谈函询), criticism and education, and admonishment conversations (诫勉谈话) to strive to improve the quality and effectiveness of oversight and release its full potential—and new technological means such as big data and cloud computing must be employed to advance the development of digital clean-governance archives (数字化廉政档案), improve information-sharing mechanisms among oversight bodies, and continuously strengthen the initiative and effectiveness of day-to-day management and oversight.

Original Chinese

紧盯“关键少数”，加强有效监督 ■莫福春党要管党，首先是管好领导干部；从严治党，关键是从严治官。中央军委日前印发《关于加强军队高级干部教育管理监督的若干措施》，着眼严管主官以上率下，聚焦加强主要领导监督管理立规明矩。这是深化政治整训、推进政治建军的重要举措，对于加强高级干部队伍革命性锻造具有重要指导意义。习主席强调：“没有监督的权力必然导致腐败，这是一条铁律。”有权必有责、用权受监督，是现代政党权力运行的普遍法则，也是我们党加强干部队伍建设、保持党的先进性和纯洁性的法宝。正所谓，位高不可擅权，权重不能谋私。主要领导和党委班子是“关键少数”，主要领导是“关键少数”中的关键，责任越重大、岗位越重要，越要加强监督。实践证明，用好监督这个“紧箍咒”，有助于杜绝领导干部肆意乱用权力、工作违规逾矩，促使其干净干事、健康成长。人不率则不从，身不先则不信。领导干部以身作则、从己做起，是无言的要求、无声的号召，其一言一行、一举一动，都在无形中营造一种风气、提倡一种追求。军队领导干部特别是高级干部肩上有千钧重担，身后有千军万马，是强军事业的顶梁柱、攻坚克难的领头雁、从严治党的责任人、作风形象的风向标，发挥着关键性、示范性、引领性作用。如果放松对领导干部的监督管理，一旦发生问题就容易形成“破窗效应”，产生催化、连锁反应，甚至造成区域性、系统性、塌方式腐败。信任不能代替监督，没有监督的信任是放任。尤须看到，现实中，“上级监督太远，同级监督太软，下级监督太难”的顽症尚未根除，少数领导干部决策“一言堂”、花钱“一支笔”、用人“一句话”的现象仍有发生，甚至把分管工作、分管领域变成不受集体领导和监督的“私人领地”。正如习主席深刻指出的：“许多违纪违法的一把手之所以从‘好干部’沦为‘阶下囚’，有理想信念动摇、外部‘围猎’的原因，更有日常管理监督不力的原因。” 俗话说，严是爱，松是害。确保领导干部始终处在组织管理之中、制度监督之下，表面上看是限制多了、自由少了，实际上是给成长进步加了一道防波堤、上了一把安全锁，对领导干部而言，既是从严要求，更是关心爱护。各级领导干部要从政治上认识领导职责中包含监督职责，增强监督意识，履行监督责任；正确对待党组织和官兵的监督，勇于纠正错误，切实改进工作；习惯在受监督和约束的环境中工作生活，主动接受监督，决不能拒绝监督、逃避监督。严肃的党内组织生活，是对“关键少数”进行监督的有效手段。领导干部应按时参加双重组织生活，以普通党员身份经常向组织汇报思想，接受大家的批评监督。各级党组织也要用好批评和自我批评利器，营造“严于自我批评、勇于开展批评、乐于接受批评”的浓厚氛围，及时清扫“灰尘”、消杀“病菌”，真正发挥好组织生活拉袖子、治未病的功效，让“关键少数”在相互提醒和督促中成长进步。监督有没有效果，关键看能否坚持制度、融入日常、做在经常。各级既要用好传统手段，利用谈心谈话、列席会议、调研督导等时机，深入基层查找问题、发现苗头、掌握线索，有针对性地加强分析研判，灵活运用约谈函询、批评教育、诫勉谈话等方式方法，努力提升监督质效、释放监督效能；也要运用大数据、云计算等新技术手段，推进数字化廉政档案建设，健全监督主体间信息共享机制，不断增强日常管理监督的主动性和实效性。