China's Communist Party tightens grip on dissenting voices, gluttony, improper sexual relations - and golf

Inappropriate comments about the Communist Party's key policies, vilifying party leaders, and distorting party history could all lead to a member's expulsion from the party, according to Beijing's latest discipline rules.

Amendments to the rules - the first since 2003, which were passed at a Politburo meeting in October and issued on Monday - include changes involving political discipline that observers believe are aimed at tightening the party's grip over members.

The changes have sparked fears the party is further chipping away at varied opinions.

The amendments, effective from next year, ban "inappropriate assessment of major party policy that harms party unity", "vilifying the party and its leaders" and "distorting the history of the party or the military".

Golf and gluttony are listed as violations for the first time, too, along with "improper sexual relations". Before, the rules banned only "keeping paramours and committing adultery".

"These changes will strengthen in-party governance, and make political discipline more binding," said Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Clean Government Centre at Peking University. "They will also better preserve the party's image and authority, and its leaders."

The party's anti-graft watchdog, the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection, is paying increasing attention to political discipline - including speeches and the political stance of cadres - in a campaign that had focused mostly on economic corruption.