BEIJING: China’s top anti-graft authorities are intensifying efforts to combat emerging and concealed corruption by deploying information technology, big data and artificial intelligence to pinpoint irregularities and streamline case-solving, recent official disclosures show.
A communique from the recently concluded fifth plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection highlights technology empowerment and the advancement of a digital disciplinary inspection and supervision system, with an emphasis on law-based and regulated application of technology.
During the session, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed the need to track new trends in corruption. He called for innovative oversight methods to promptly detect and accurately identify corrupt practices, thereby enhancing the penetration of anti-graft efforts. The CCDI’s fourth plenary session communique issued in January 2025 also emphasized harnessing big data and information technology to strengthen work conduct improvement and anti-corruption drives.
Liu Yi, an associate professor at the University of International Business and Economics’ School of Marxism, said that compared with 2025, this year’s priorities have shifted sharply toward precision, rule of law and digital intelligence. The focus on “enhanced anti-corruption penetration” responds to the evolution of graft toward capitalization, option-style schemes and greater concealment — challenges that traditional one-dimensional oversight cannot effectively address, he said.
To implement these goals, Liu urged the construction of cross-departmental digital supervision platforms to analyze capital flows, equity relationships and kinship ties, exposing shadow companies and unregistered banks. He also called for clearly defining new forms of corruption in law to enable rule-based case handling, and for strengthening international cooperation to pursue fugitives and recover illicit assets across borders.
“This penetrative governance is more than a technical upgrade; it represents a shift in oversight mindset, aiming to eradicate corruption through transparent power operations and targeted crackdowns,” Liu said.
In line with these directives, disciplinary bodies are advancing initiatives including big data resource centers, public power supervision platforms and integrated case-handling workspaces to improve the quality and efficiency of anti-corruption work.
Yang Weidong, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law’s Institute of Rule of Law, said a technology-enabled anti-corruption initiative has become imperative as new forms of corruption grow increasingly concealed, often facilitated by modern technologies.
“The core challenge is detection. Only by identifying problems first can subsequent governance proceed,” Yang said. He added that big data and related tools are crucial for rapid evidence collection, enabling accurate identification of violations and appropriate punishment.
Yang noted that while the popularization of the internet has enhanced global connectivity, it has also created loopholes for corrupt activities. Some corruption is directed domestically but carried out overseas, while others exploit regulatory gaps in areas such as virtual currencies. With data and servers for cross-border crimes often located abroad, conventional supervision methods struggle to make headway, he said, stressing that “as illegal activities embrace technology, supervision must proactively leverage technological empowerment”. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
