Expelled official wasn't paying his dues

A retired bureau-level official in Shaanxi province was expelled from the Communist Party of China for serious violations of discipline and law - including not paying Party membership dues for years.

Wang Shuxiao, 54, deputy inspector of the Shaanxi Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, has not participated in regular activities of the Party nor paid his dues since 2008. His retirement benefits were also reduced from those of a bureau level official to section level official.

"The lack of Party spirit and the concept of teamwork can be seen in such behavior," the discipline inspection commission and supervision committee of the province said recently in a joint statement.

Wang started working in 1982. He became Party chief of the quality and technical supervision bureau in Xianyang, Shaanxi, in 2008, and became the deputy inspector of the provincial bureau in 2011. He applied for early retirement because of illness in 2015.

His violations include running his own business, contracting projects for his relatives and taking bribes to help others find jobs, according to the statement.

In view of his cooperation in the investigation, the penalty was lighter than it might have been otherwise, it said.

Paying dues on time is a basic requirement for Party members, and are calculated based on one's monthly salary, according to the Constitution of the CPC.

Collected dues are used for organizing activities, including training and commending members, and subsidizing members who have living difficulties or who suffer from serious natural disasters, the Constitution says.

The issue of slow payment of Party dues has frequently been disclosed nationwide in recent years by central disciplinary authorities. In 2016, 22 State-owned enterprises in Shanxi province were found with unpaid dues of 80 million yuan ($11.7 million), and those of 66 State-owned enterprises in Tianjin reached 277 million yuan.

Party members who do not participate in regular activities, or who fail to pay their dues or finish work assigned by the Party for six consecutive months will be considered as having left the Party, the Party Constitution says.

The Party branch decides on removals and reports to the higher Party organization.

"Paying Party dues is not a trivial matter. Even if it's a small amount, it's enough to measure one's belief. Those playing tricks in this will lose the trust of the Party," China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Newspaper, the official publication of the CCDI, said on Tuesday.