China has intensified its war on adultery by making the campaign official policy.

Citing a China Daily Report, The Washington Post said that six senior officials have been accused of adultery by the Central Commission for Discipline (CDI) since June.

The CCDI is the agency spearheading China's fight on corruption. On June 7, it warned Communist Party members that they could be expelled from the party and fired from their post on grounds of adultery. It said adultery is a violation of the party's code of conduct, and it will not tolerate such.

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The Washington Post noted that the use of the term "adultery" in the CCDI directive is in marked contrast to official statements in the past which described extramarital affairs as "living a degenerate lifestyle" or "moral corruption."

A researcher at the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, Peng Peng, said the change in wording may have been intentional because adultery would draw a stronger reaction from the public than the term morally degenerate.

According to China.org.cn, a Chinese website, Yang Baohua is the latest official accused of adultery. Yang is former vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference Hunan Provincial Committee. He was expelled from the Communist Party of China on Tuesday.

The allegations against Yang are now the subject of a judicial inquiry. The CCDI did not give additional details, including the names of persons with whom Yang allegedly committed adultery.

Prior to the CDDI's statement on June 7, a former senior manager at a state-owned company was stripped of his party membership over corruption allegations, including bribery and adultery. The accused, Dai Channing, was the deputy general manager of China Export and Credit Insurance Corp.

Although adultery is not illegal in China, many cases of extramarital affairs involving senior officials have embarrassed the Chinese government, and many in the public have put adultery at the same level as corruption.

TagsWatchdog, Anti-adultery, CCDI