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Editorial: Beijing's crackdown histrionics

Last week, Chen Liangyu (陳良宇), a top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and former Shanghai government official, was expelled from his party and removed from his posts. It is generally believed that he will face swift judicial prosecution on corruption charges. Chen is just one of a number of top Chinese officials who have fallen from grace -- allegedly for accepting bribes and other forms of corruption -- over a matter of a few months.

The Chinese government has a track record of launching short-lived, tokenistic crackdown campaigns that inevitably prove ineffective at dealing with the root of the kind of crime being targeted.

One prime example is Beijing's annual show of cracking down on pirated DVDs and knock-off designer bags. China's high-profile theatrics include launching anti-piracy slogans, parading banners and burning piles of confiscated counterfeit goods. Last year it even tore down Shanghai's famous Xiangyang market, leaving a lasting impression that it meant business.

But China continues to be a haven for pirated goods. Beijing's "efforts" have yet to do more than scratch the surface of the illegal industry.

Similarly, this is hardly the first time the Chinese government has sworn its unwavering determination to exterminate corruption from the face of the Central Kingdom, putting on a Peking Opera complete with the demise of top officials.

Only a few weeks ago, Zheng Xiaoyu (鄭筱萸), former bureau chief of China's State Food and Drug Administration, was executed after being convicted on charges of corruption. Zheng was executed 40 days after a guilty verdict was handed down in the first trial. The investigation took only three months. The swiftness of the investigation, prosecution and sentence was designed to send a message, albeit one completely lacking in credibility: Beijing doesn't tolerate corruption.

Beijing's eagerness to quickly convict and execute Zheng was also a demonstration of the regime's priorities: A good scapegoat is worth more than due process.

The number of officials targeted in anti-corruption campaigns has perhaps increased, and Chen was the highest-ranking official to be expelled from the CCP in the past decade, but the show has apparently not succeeded in convincing Chinese citizens that their government is sincere in its desire to turn a new leaf and give up its corrupt ways.

Nevertheless, there are two indicators that Beijing has been scared into taking public discontent over corruption a little more seriously this time. Two weeks before Zheng's execution, the People's Supreme Court and the People's Supreme Prosecution Yuan, the country's top judicial and prosecutorial organs, jointly issued a paper outlining 10 types of corruption.

About a month earlier, on May 30th, the CCP issued a set of regulations called the "eight prohibitions," banning corruption by party members.

Legal experts believe that both of these texts are intended to supplement existing criminal law on corruption and bribery. The current definitions of corruption and bribery in Chinese law have long been panned as ambiguous. The issuance of these papers very well may indicate an amendment to the criminal law is under way.

But in a country that flatly ignores the rule of law, Beijing's sincerity cannot be judged based on high-speed court room theater or how many corruption regulations it can pen in a month. Rather, the sincerity of its latest crackdown must be proven gradually, through respect for rule of law and transparent, fair investigations and trials.
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