The Communist Party of China Shanxi Provincial Committee's newly-appointed organization department head, Sheng Maolin, declared that the province should initiate a bold anti-corruption campaign, reports said.

Speaking at his first plenary meeting with all organization department officials on Friday, Sheng advocated the elimination of graft under his governance.

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Sheng, 54, told his officials to understand the Central Committee's strategy in addressing widespread corruption in the country.

He also advocated on a reformed punishment system that would hold organization department officials accountable for wrongly appointing and promoting corrupt Party officials.

He said that they should act as "goalkeepers", ensuring that government positions are filled up by trustworthy and deserving people.

At the same time, he highlighted the value of self-discipline among his officials.  

As organization department officials, their key responsibility is to evaluate Party officials' performances before they get appointed or promoted to a position. Thus, they become a target of bribery to help Party officials get promoted without difficulty.

This is the reason China has been replacing organization department heads nationwide in its effort to tackle corruption concerns in the country.

According to reports, Sheng is the sixth organization department head appointed at the provincial level since August.

Organization department heads in the provinces of Anhui, Hubei, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, and the municipality of Shanghai were replaced by officials from other provinces to prevent biases towards friends and family members.

Of the 31 organization department heads in China, only three are natives of their assigned provinces, China Business News reported.

In addition, the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress announced a day after Sheng's plenary meeting that eight provincial congress officials had been ousted.

Shanxi has been under the radar since February, when the replacements began. Many senior officials, including Vice Governor Ren Runhou, were subject to investigation by China's anti-corruption committee.

Before Sheng's appointment in Shanxi, he was Hunan province's deputy governor since January 2012.

TagsShanxi province, organization department, Sheng Maolin, Central Committee