New rules of conduct for the Communist Party’s 88 million members ban certain activities. Extravagant banquets, sexual improprieties, and cliques can be punished by arrest.

Beijing (AsiaNews) – As it tightens its rules against corrupt practices, China’s ruling Communist Party lists golf and gluttony as grounds for arrest.

Graft-busting rules had already been tightened last July following President Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown against deep-rooted corruption.

The new rules are an update of existing regulations and are designed to better codify exactly what constitutes a violation of discipline.

Tales of graft and officials’ high living, including extravagant banquets, have prompted widespread public anger because bureaucrats are meant to live modestly and lead morally exemplary lives.

The new rules are applicable to all 88 million party members, Xinhua said.

"Party members must separate public and private interests, put the public’s interest first and work selflessly," it reported. They must also "champion simplicity and guard against extravagance".

"The new discipline regulation explicitly lists extravagant eating and drinking and playing golf as violations, which were not included previously," it noted.

Sexual impropriety is another targeted area: marriage, adultery and infidelity are signs of deviant behaviour and cause for punishment.

The new regulations also ban inter-party cliques that seek to break the party’s unity.  

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