Chinese recipe for fighting graft

Xi Jinping, chief of Communist Party of China, did not try to hide the numerous incidents of rampant corruption in his own party, the historic Communist Party of China (CPC). The latest disclosure of punishing one million party officials--both "tigers" and "flies" has made him different than some of his predecessors, though previous leaders have also fought against party rogues.  

His fight against corruption has been lauded by people of China. His popularity is on the rise. This has been reflected in a latest survey by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American "fact tank" based in Washington D.C.

The results of the survey released earlier this month said 49 percent of the respondents said corrupt officials were a big problem, and 64 percent said they believed the situation would improve over the next five years.

"Across China, there is a sense that those who indulge in corrupt activities face a high risk of exposure. As a consequence, the volume of graft has gone down considerably," said M. D. Nalapat, a professor of geopolitics at Manipal University of India, according to a China Daily report on Tuesday.

Jinping has been elected boss of the CPC, which has a large membership base of 89 million, in 2012 and President for two terms--ten years--in March 2013. 

Political analysts now say Jinping's anticorruption campaign has played a central role in cementing his hold on power. He has already emerged as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades after Mao Zedong.

Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Clean Government Center at Peking University, calls Jinping's anticorruption campaign “unprecedented” in the history of the CPC's 67 years rule.

“It had to be done,” Prof. Zhuang says. “Otherwise, the party and the country would face the danger of coming to an end.”

CRACKDOWN ON TIGERS AND FLIES

Public discontent was on the rise due to mainly scandals involving highly placed leaders as well as day-to-day incidents of minor corruption and the sheer inefficiency or negligence by local cadres.

Deeply rooted corruption contributed to income inequality and compromised the legitimacy of the CPC, analysts say.

Taking office, Jinping vowed to crack down on "tigers and flies," high-level officials and local civil servants, in his campaign against corruption and petty officialdom.

He also said the Soviet Union had collapsed because nobody in the party had been “man enough to stand up and resist.” He noted that Russia's corrupt security services had “left the party disarmed.”

"Mr Xi wants to put politics back in command…He evidently saw signs of similar laxness taking hold in China," commented The Economist in a report on October 22 on his anticorruption campaign.

His campaign got momentum after he assumed the presidency in March 2013.

In the last four years, most of the officials investigated were removed from office and faced charges of bribery and abuse of power.

As of 2016, the campaign has “netted” over 120 high-ranking officials, including about a dozen high-ranking military officers, several senior executives of state-owned companies, and five national leaders.

For the first time, very high-level party figures who are known as "tigers" such as former security chief Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai, former Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua and Su Rong have been convicted of corruption.

The campaign is part of a stronger effort on his part to clean up wrong doings by party officials and increase party unity. Jinping's politics, thus, has gained his very own style.

WHY "FLIES" ARE MORE IMPORTANT

Nearly two years after the anticorruption campaign started, The Diplomat, an online international news magazine, on a September 26, 2014 article focused on Jinping's challenge to fight low-level corruption. 

The campaign has successfully brought down high-ranking “tigers” like Zhou Yongkang and Xu Caihou. The real test, according to The Diplomat, is whether or not the party can weed out the endemic corruption among low-level officials.

"In the long run, the “flies” rather than the “tigers” will determine the fate of Xi's anti-corruption drive," said The Diplomat.

These grassroots officials attract less media attention than the downing of high-profile party members. These are the officials who have the closest contact with ordinary Chinese people.

The disclosure of the punishment of one million party officials, however, now indicates that numerous "flies" along with "tigers" were netted and sentenced in the anti-corruption campaign.

MECHANISM

On charge of grafts, the CPC men were executed largely under the direction of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) with corresponding military and judicial organs.

The CCDI's official mandate is to enforce party discipline, combat malfeasance, and punish party members for committing offenses.

As it is an internal agency of the party, it does not have judicial authority. The commission investigates officials and, when necessary, forwards evidence gathered to judicial organs to charge the accused with criminal wrongdoings and move the case to trial.

Since the vast majority of officials at all levels of government are also CPC members, the commission is in practice the top anti-corruption body in China.

Wang Qishan, a member of the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision making body of the CPC is leading the anti-graft commission.

LESSON FOR OTHERS?

Not surprisingly, as the economy grew, corruption increased in China, said Asit K. Biswas, visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

"Now the top leadership, headed by Xi, has made fighting corruption a central pillar for improving the governance of the country," China Daily quoted him as saying.

 The idea that the anti-corruption campaign is somehow undermining China's standing in the world is ludicrous, said Martin Sieff, a senior fellow of the Global Policy Institute in Washington and the American University in Moscow.

He said: "The campaign is boosting the image of China because it sets a positive and even inspiring example to so many countries whose populations and even government officials have despaired of making headway against such an endemic problem."

In Bangladesh, whenever a party in power is mired in controversy due to wrongdoings and corruptions by the party men, the ruling party balks at taking any action.

Any media report exposing their corruption is labelled by the party in power as "conspiracy" to taint the image of the party and the government. Non-actions give birth to a culture of impunity and poor governance. The party also faces humiliation in elections. 

The current anticorruption campaign by China offers some lessons for many.