In the Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International on Jan. 25, China ranked 66th out of 180 nations and regions rated, its best ranking since 2014.
China’s anti-corruption measures seem to have been successful, but from the following perspectives, corruption in China has not fundamentally improved, and there is a risk that it will worsen.
China’s fight against corruption is essentially a power struggle, not a means of promoting integrity.
When former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) was in power, he imprisoned Chen Xitong (陳希同), the then-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Beijing Municipal Committee, on charges of corruption. CCP Committee Secretary of Shanghai Chen Liangyu (陳良宇), a domineering thorn in the flesh of those in power who was backed by the Jiang faction during the era of former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), was also detained on suspicion of corruption.
After Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took office at the 18th National Congress of the CCP in 2012, the scale of anti-corruption measures reached the highest point since the party was established. Many tycoons, or “big tigers,” who belonged to the Jiang faction, such as Zhou Yongkang (周永康), Guo Boxiong (郭伯雄) and Xu Caihou (徐才厚), were investigated and sentenced.
The anti-corruption film Zero Tolerance (零容忍) broadcast on China Central Television featured the “Sun Lijun political gang,” who were detained for corruption, including former Chinese deputy minister of public security Sun Lijun (孫力軍).
Critics have said that the true intention of Zhongnanhai (中南海) was to wipe out anti-Xi forces in the political and legal system to ensure Xi’s re-election at the party’s 20th National Congress.
For official claims that “the fight against corruption is always ongoing,” read “the power struggle is always ongoing.”
Transparency International president Delia Ferreira Rubio said that the lack of independent checks and balances in dictatorships has led to that anti-corruption policies tend to be dominated by a few elites.
The CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, the organizations that carry out corruption investigations, are under the leadership of the CCP: They are not independent investigative bodies and can easily be manipulated by senior officials in the pursuit of power.
What is more, if the anti-corruption campaign is really effective, why does corruption persist and show no signs of abating?
China’s policy of the national interest overriding that of the private sector also increases the risk of bribery.
Since coming to power, Xi has continued to tighten control over private enterprises. Prioritizing the national interest and insisting that private enterprises must be closely aligned with the CCP have become the theme tune of the Chinese market.
Now that “serving the country” is the priority, collusion between officials and businesspeople will become more serious, because private enterprises might have difficulties obtaining loans and not benefiting from tax relief if they do not pave the way by bribing government officials or transferring benefits.
This is why in the Bribery Risk Matrix ranks China 135th out of the 194 nations and regions rated.
Although the statistics tell a story of China doing well under the vigorous promotion of anti-corruption measures, in the long term, given that systemic and institutional flaws remain, China will only be driven further away from resisting corruption.
Wang Yu-pei is an ethics official.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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