China Cuts Influential Communist Youth League’s Budget

China’s influential Communist Youth League (CYL) has had its budget cut by more than half for this year following accusations of graft and inefficiency by state media.

The CYL, a stronghold of former president Hu Jintao, is widely seen as a training ground for elite positions within China's Communist Party, and the reduction of its budget is an indication of a further loss of influence, Reuters said in a report on Tuesday.

The league announced the previous week that it would carry out reforms including stamping down on corruption and enforcing strict political discipline among its ranks.

According to the Global Times, a newspaper published by China's Communist Party, the CYL's budget is pegged at 306.27 million yuan ($47.33 million), far less than the 624.13 million yuan that has been spent by the league in the previous year.

"[The league] has been working on a detailed plan for the organization's reform, which is expected to be released shortly," a CYL spokesman surnamed Zheng told the Global Times.

The paper said the league has faced public backlash in recent years for "being too elitist and inefficient" and that pressure has been growing for it to adhere more closely to the Party leadership and operate in a clear and more transparent manner.

The budget cut comes as President Xi Jinping launched a widespread anti-corruption campaign that targeted both low- and high-ranking officials including those in the military and state-owned companies.

The campaign has also brought down many of Xi's political rivals, including Zhou Yongkang, China's once-powerful domestic security chief.

China has around 87.46 million CYL members at the end of 2015, slightly down from 88.2 million a year earlier, according to data from the league's central committee.

The country has also more than 3.87 million organizations affiliated with the league, the figures showed.