People might ask: Does it really matter if an official accepts a dinner invitation? The answer can be found in the numbers.

Cases involving improper dining and drinking accounted for 18.2% of all violations related to hedonism and extravagance investigated during September, according to China's top anti-corruption authorities.

What lie behind a simple meal are issues concerning an official's sense of discipline, their conception of power and their approach to conduct. Addressing these seemingly minor details is therefore central to China's full and rigorous Party self-governance, ensuring that integrity is maintained at every level.

How the Communist Party of China (CPC) combats corruption is one of the topics that has attracted the greatest interest among participants in CGTN's Ask China initiative.

The 20th Central Committee of the CPC held its fifth plenary session from Monday to Thursday in Beijing, adopting a resolution on persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance, which also highlighted the importance of combating corruption.

Fighting corruption to safeguard public interests

The fight against corruption is not simply about punishing officials who break the rules. It is also about strengthening the Party's ability to govern and ensuring that public power serves the interests of the people.

The endeavors to advance full and rigorous governance over the Party in the new era have broken new ground in the self-reform of the century-old Party and brought about historic achievements and transformations in the cause of the Party and the country, according to a communique of the session released on Thursday.

Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, said the CPC has outlined four areas of focus for steadfastly pursuing a distinctive Chinese path to combating corruption at a press conference on the guiding principles from the fifth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee.

Among them, Zhang stressed strengthening efforts to tackle corruption in sectors where power is concentrated and large amounts of funds and resources are involved, with a focus on cases involving intertwined political and economic interests, collusion between officials and businesses, and the infiltration of political circles by capital.

Zhang also said greater attention will be paid to uncovering new and concealed forms of corruption, while misconduct and corruption affecting people at the grassroots level will be addressed on a regular basis.

The scale of the campaign is reflected in the figures. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, discipline inspection and supervisory organs across the country have filed 8.105 million cases and punished 7.922 million people, according to Zhang.

Punishment, however, is only one part of the effort. China's approach also seeks to address the institutional and ideological roots of corruption.

Xie Maosong, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Strategic Studies under Tsinghua University, said the CPC regards corruption as a major threat to its governing foundation and considers combating it a long-term task that requires both determination and institutional safeguards.

"A central principle of this approach is to address corruption through three interconnected measures: making officials afraid to engage in corruption, making it impossible for them to do so and fostering an unwillingness to do so," said Xie.

Specifically, the first relies on strict enforcement and credible deterrence, the second focuses on improving institutions, tightening oversight and placing checks on the exercise of power, while the third emphasizes education, ethical awareness and a stronger commitment to public service, added Xie.

Turning organizational strength into effective governance

With China in its 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), the question of how to translate the CPC's organizational strength into effective governance and development momentum has taken on added significance.

The CPC has more than 100 million members and over 5.4 million primary-level Party organizations, giving it a powerful advantage unmatched by any other political party in the world, said Huang Jianfa, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

But the size of an organization alone does not guarantee effective governance. The key lies in how its members are selected, managed, trained and held accountable.

Full and rigorous Party self-governance requires strict management of officials, according to the communique. It calls for building a high-caliber cadre workforce with strong political commitment, professional competence, sound work styles and strict discipline.

Huang outlined five priorities in strengthening cadre management, ranging from upholding the right criteria for selecting and appointing officials to strengthening the officials' ability to take initiative and deliver results.

These priorities reflect a broader recognition that China's development goals require not only sound policies but also officials capable of implementing them effectively.

Xia Lu, an expert on Party building at Renmin University of China, said, "The quality of the ruling party directly shapes a country's capacity to achieve modernization, forming a clear causal chain: Party self-governance leads to effective governance, which delivers development, paves the way for modernization and ultimately brings about national rejuvenation."

Xia also said a country's long-term development requires organizational continuity, as infrastructure, industrialization, education, technological upgrading and poverty reduction often depend on policies that endure across decades rather than the lifespan of a single administration.

So the selection and evaluation of officials matters enormously, as development depends on a bureaucracy capable of learning, implementing and adapting, not merely one that follows procedures, Xia said.