By Pramod Sedhain.
War against corruption flared up in China and reached the heart of the country elite. Cases filed against heavyweight leaders, highly-placed military figures and government officials have significantly enhanced the credibility of the Chinese new leadership. China’s ongoing anti-corruption drive and aggressive crackdown has seen several expulsions and detentions of several powerful Chinese Communist Party members and officials. Investigation has been carried out within the Chinese central leadership and former power-privileged elite. China’s anti-corruption effort has taken a clear with an obvious indication of effective progress as well as making headlines in the global media.
Corruption in China is harder than expected and this fundamental problem cannot be rooted out without an effective mechanism or unless senior figures are booked. In his opening remarks during the 18th party congress, Chinese then President Hu Jintao said corruption could “kill the party and ruin the country”. Widespread bribe taking, embezzlement and abuse of power are the key concern of the Chinese new leadership. Soon after assuming the post, Xi Jinping had in his speech in the party’s politburo on November 17, 2012, said, “The preponderance of facts tells us that the more severe the corruption problem becomes, it will ultimately lead the party and the nation to perish!” Corruption is poetical threat to survival of the ruling Communist Party in China. Campaign against bribery and corruption has gained momentum since Xi set the prime priory to anti-corruption campaign. President Xi vowed that “both ‘tigers’ and ‘flies’ should be punished,”.
After the start of the anti-corruption action, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the country’s top anti-graft agency, vowed to fight corruption. The crusade against corruption reached a new high. China aggressively launched the international “Operation Fox Hunt 2014” for corrupt officials to track fugitives targeting the countries like United States, Thailand, Malaysia, Uganda, among others where possibility of investing huge sums of public money seems high.
According to Chinese News agency Xinhua, anti-corruption body believes that “fox hunt” will “block the last route of retreat for corrupt officials at a time when China’s major crackdown on graft has already narrowed the space for abuse of power.” According to a report on China Times on 2014 July, since 2008, China’s public security agencies have arrested more than 730 suspected major financial criminals in 54 countries or region. China has bilateral extradition treaties with 37 nations. Suspected corrupt and financial criminals have fled to other countries in Asia and Africa. High-profile suspects have managed to escape the country and moved to North America, Western Europe and Australia while medium and low ranking officials prefer to flee to Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and neighboring countries.
The number of serious corruption cases has risen over the last half decade. Major corruption filing cases were up nearly by 14 percent over the first six months of 2014. According to the country’s top prosecutor, the Supreme People’s Prosecutor’s figure, more than 25,000 people have been booked on corruption charges in the first six months of 2014. Xinhua quoted nearly 85 percent of the cases investigators pursued involved bribes of more than 50,000 yuan ($8,000) or embezzlement of 100,000 yuan. According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the country’s top anti-graft agency data, major corruption prosecutions have been on a rise since 2013. China’s prosecuting authorities investigated 27,236 embezzlement and bribery cases between January and November 2013, sentencing 36,907 people. Of those cases, 80 percent were considered as embezzlement and bribery cases involving more than 50,000 yuan ($8,270) or earmarking public funds over 100,000 yuan. In 2012, there were 20,442 major and important cases, compared with 18,464 in 2011 and 17,594 in 2008, according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. 198,781 people were investigated in graft cases from January 2008 to August 2013.
Sweeping investigation found massive corruption scandals and increase in high-ranking corruption charges in China. Till 2014 July, more than 182,000 party officials at various levels have been investigated, with arrests being made of 32 leaders who rank at the level of vice minister or above, including five leaders who are members of the 18th Central Committee of the CCP. China has over 5,000 officials who rank at the vice minister level or above. Four formerly high-ranking officials were expelled from the Party, including Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Xi told a study group of the ruling politburo: “Everyone in violation of party discipline must be punished, We can’t be soft.” Disciplinary action has seen a rapid growth within the party since he took power. In 2013, China took disciplinary actions against 182,000 corrupt party members and government officials, grilled 21,000 officials for major safety accidents, and investigated 31 ministerial level officials suspected of violating laws and party discipline. In the same period more than 750 errant civil servants were repatriated.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, it removed 18 officials at the provincial and ministerial levels as well as 87,000 rural grassroots officials. The Eight Rules implemented at the end of 2012 by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee ruled against formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance among officials. Since the implementation of the rules, the party has exposed violators while thousand of officials have been disciplined for breaking the rules.
In the first five months of the year 2014, 62,953 officials were punished, up 34.7 percent on the same period last year. The most high-profile corruption trial and investigation was on politburo member – Gen Xu Caihou, who was handed over to prosecutors for a court martial. In the past, military have been largely immune to corruption probes. Similarly, the deputy head of the state energy giant China National Petroleum Company – Wang Yongchun, most powerful politicians – Zhou Yongkang, former the mayor of Nanjing Ji Jianye, Politburo member and party secretary in Chongqing -Bo Xilai, former deputy security minister Li Dongsheng, Former Deputy Hainan governor Ji Wenlin, former national oil exec – Li Hualin and Jiang Jiemin, Mining tycoon – Liu Han, former Sichuan official Guo Yongxiang and Li Chincheng among other hundreds of officials have been investigated.
Investigation on corruption charges have been done not only on government officials, party officials and military officials but academicians and media personalities are also not spared. They too have been prosecuted. Dozens of university officials and leading scientists have been caught in corruption cases. Since the taking charge by the new leadership in Beijing, at least 10 university presidents or vice presidents have been arrested and investigated on corruption charges. Similarly, some media tycoons are also arrested. CCTV network’s vice director of financial news Li Yong, CCTV’s advertising director and director-general of its finance and economics channel Guo Zhenxi are also arrested. These are just a few instances of deep rooted corruption in China. Anti-corruption body has already arrested thousands of major scalps in different sector and professions.
With the growing faith and moral decline within communist party members, China’s Communist Party has started ideological education to uplift the moral standard. China stepped up new regulations on lavish life standards like giving gifts and lavish banquets, which have become a rarity and put a ban on military license plates on luxury cars, among others. As part of anti-corruption campaign, Chinese Communist Party has over 80 million members while new party members’ recruitment policy has also been changed. Recruitment policy has seen a slight change focusing on smartness and career-oriented, emphasis on ideology, stringent discipline, standards and qualified persons to attract new policy. China is set to complete its tightening supervision new plan for disciplinary inspection reforms by 2017.
