practising a correct view of political performance

context: Beijing elevated the campaign on practising a correct view of political performance to 'establish and practise a correct view of political performance' in 2026, into a Party-wide education and rectification drive running from February to July, targeting leading Party groups at or above county/division level, especially top officials. The timing is notable, as 2026 marks both the start of the 15th 5-year plan and a key phase for plan formulation and implementation. The campaign reflects a broader shift in cadre evaluation: whereas officials were previously assessed largely on GDP growth—encouraging investment-driven expansion and debt accumulation—criteria have gradually diversified since 2012 to place greater emphasis on livelihoods, ecological outcomes, social stability and development quality. Against this backdrop, the campaign aims to recalibrate cadre incentives towards long-term, policy-aligned performance.

Xu Xiaoming 徐晓明 Central Party School professor explained the motivation and core content of the campaign, highlighting

  • the significance of the campaign, as necessary for
    • maintaining Party legitimacy and cadre integrity
    • promoting high-quality development and better balancing speed with quality
  • the core content of a 'correct view of political performance'
    • political performance should be judged by whether it advances the interests of the people and addresses pressing public needs
    • greater emphasis should be placed on public welfare and livelihood issues
    • officials should avoid arbitrary decision-making and act in a practical and prudent manner
    • officials should not put personal reputation or short-term gains ahead of public welfare
  • how to maintain a correct view of political performance among cadres
    • strengthen cadre education and training
    • improve promotion, assessment and disciplinary mechanisms, with more attention to
      • both results and process
      • both quantity and quality
      • both actual output and cost
      • indicators such as livelihood improvement, ecological benefits and social stability
      • the long-term returns of policy decisions
    • strengthen supervision and hard constraints
        • discipline inspection bodies and inspection teams should treat political performance as a key supervision issue
        • public reporting and public supervision channels should be improved

To clarify what constitutes a correct or incorrect view of political performance, Qiushi republished cases illustrating both.

examples of an incorrect view of political performance include

  • a county with annual fiscal revenue of only C¥300–400 million borrowed more than C¥700 million to launch an industrial venture capital park
    • the project later suffered serious losses
  • the article argues that the project was driven by short-term 'face' considerations, at the cost of exhausting the county’s fiscal resources and ultimately damaging government credibility

examples of a correct view of political performance include

  • Chongqing’s treatment of a polluted stream
  • the article presents this as less eye-catching than large-scale image projects, but more directly beneficial to the public