You know, the Chinese Communist Party is a little like Smaug. Sure, it seems big and scary. But then it starts to show off, and reveals its greatest weakness. Anyway, it’s a common problem: The big scary bad guy has a glaring weakness.
In the Communist Party’s case, it’s corruption.
In 2012, then-Chinese leader Hu Jintao passed the torch to Xi Jinping.
But before he retired, Hu warned that failing to defeat corruption could bring down the Communist Party. And so Xi has made rooting out corruption kinda his thing. Since Xi’s anti-corruption campaign began in 2013, he’s taken down more than one million officials. That’s according to official statistics just released by the Central Commission on Disciplinary Inspection, the government organ in charge of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, and headed by China’s most woeful man, Wang Qishan.
But why stop at a million? Xi and Wang are just getting started. The Central Commission on Disciplinary Inspection also partnered with Party mouthpiece CCTV to make this, a reality show starring some of the biggest officials taken out.
It’s called “The Real Corrupt Officials of Beijing” “Always on the Road.” Weird. Fortunately, my favorite state-run media Global Times explains the unusual title:
Ah, of course. How silly of me for not immediately getting it.
The show’s featured confessions include Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, two of Xi Jinping’s biggest rivals. Also giving a totally uncoerced confession is Zhou Benshun, who confessed to the heinous crime of giving his dead pet turtle Buddhist burial rites. Communist Party officials are suppose to be atheists, you see.
Let’s hope he never met fellow “confessionaire” Zhang Jianjin. He’s a former Party secretary for a pharmaceutical company who was often treated to extravagant meals, including a three-foot long crocodile tail. Because anyone can have common food, like a footlong hot dog. Just go to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.
Anyway, there’s one thing all of these fallen officials have in common: They acted on their own, and there is absolutely, definitely, for suresies no systemic problem within the Communist Party that led to this rampant corruption.
So are all officials featured in “Always on the Road” corrupt? No, of course not! One official featured prominently is described as spartan, humble, and happy with a simple diet: Xi Jinping! Simple diet? I guess he does eat a lot of vegetables.
According to the New York Times, “In many areas, [Party Members] have been ordered to watch the show. I mean, it would be corrupt not to force people to watch it!
Now on the one hand, showing that Xi Jinping is tough on corruption makes him, and the Party, seem powerful.But on the other hand, might people start to wonder, “Hey, they’ve already punished a million corrupt officials and they’re still going at it. Is there, maybe, a bigger problem with the Communist Party?”
The correct answer is NO! All these officials acted completely on their own, and there is absolutely no culture created by the Communist Party that condones corruption.
Nonetheless, according to this recent poll by the Pew Center,
All this comes at a crucial time for the Communist Party. Because this week, it held its annual plenum. The Sixth Plenum, to be exact! What’s a plenum? Well, it’s when China’s top Communist leaders come together, don their ceremonial robes, and seal themselves behind the vaulted doors to discuss Party policy, economic strategy, and once again try to awaken the slumbering cosmic horror, Cthulhu. Just kidding about that last one. That’s actually scheduled for next year’s plenum.
Each plenum has a different theme. According to Party mouthpiece Xinhua, this year the Plenum will focus on “The norms of political life within the Party under the new situation,” and “A revision to an intra-Party supervision regulation.” - which I think is the Party-speak equivalent of Xi Jinping saying: I’m watching you; don’t cross me.
Yes, if anything has become clear in the opaque dealings of the Party, it’s that Xi has been consolidating power, by purging political opponents in his so called Anti-Corruption Campaign.
And funny enough, many of those provincial Party leaders have recently been referring to Xi as the “core leader.” Two thirds of them in fact, according to Reuters, and the Communist Party just announced that Xi is now officially the “core leader” of the Party. That means Xi ranks right up there with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping—in other words, it means he’s made big headway. We'll talk more about this in a later episode.
But Xi’s position is still uncertain. Many of the 300 Central Committee members that make up the Sixth Plenum were appointed by former Chinese leader and retired Mario villain Jiang Zemin, Xi’s biggest political opponent.
And Xi Jinping has another problem. The head of his anti-corruption campaign Wang Qishan is 68 years old. Theoretically, 68 is the mandatory retirement age, which means that he’s supposed to retire at next year’s Party Congress. And who would be willing to replace this guy?
Xi Jinping will also be expected to name his own successor for when he steps down in 2022. But that’s only if he follows precedent. And let’s just say, Xi is kind of unprecedented guy.
So what do you think? Is Xi’s anti-corruption campaign saving the Communist Party? Or shooting itself in the foot by exposing its dark underbelly? Leave your comments below.
