China fights corruption and cleans up official behavior
- By Liu Qiang
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 26, 2014
The Communist Party of China (CPC) launched a tougher national anti-corruption drive in 2013 to swat both "tigers and flies" -- senior and low-ranking officials.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the top discipline watchdog of the CPC responded quickly to the call, and has been on a full offensive to combat corruption since 2013.
Anti-graft authorities across China received over 1.95 million allegations of corruption and investigated 172,532 cases in 2013. A total of 182,038 officials received disciplinary punishments, Huang Shuxian, deputy head of the CCDI and minister of the Ministry of Supervision, said at a press conference on Jan. 10, 2014.
Uprooting high level corruption
On Sept. 22, 2013, Bo Xilai, a member of the Politburo, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. Bo was the first top politician in the highest echelon of power to be charged after the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012.
Li Dongsheng, vice minister of Public Security was investigated for serious legal and disciplinary violations on Dec. 20, 2013. Jiang Jiemin, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and former chairman of China's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), was also under corruption investigation.
Notably, the corrupt officials have come from a wide range of sectors and no exceptions were made for powerful ministries or wealthy SOEs, a mark of the CPC's determination to clean up its act and renew the Party's image.
Cutting official expenditures, fighting unhealthy behavior
As well as punishing cases of corruption at all levels, the CPC is also fighting against official misconduct and misbehavior.
Throughout 2013, the central leadership has been calling for the implementation of the "eight-point rule" for official conduct issued at the end of 2012 and the elimination of the four "unhealthy tendencies" of formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, which President Xi claims are cutting the Party off from the people.
The CPC has imposed austerity on government officials, and various perks that were once so common such as first-class airline tickets, red-carpet receptions, VIP cards and taxpayer-financed travels and lavish funerals have been cut.
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