Although an annual report by the Chinese Communist Party’s corruption-fighting agency indicates an increased crackdown on corrupt government officials in China, some experts find it deceptive and shameful.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), an anti-corruption agency, published its annual report, touting progress in anti-corruption efforts this past year. The report states that more than 182,000 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and cadres, and state-owned enterprise executives have been investigated and punished for corruption.
The number of closed cases in 2013 increased by 12.3 percent over 2012, while the number of officials investigated increased by 13 percent. Additionally, the CCDI investigated 24,521 cases within a month and investigated 30,000 people after the 18th Congress—7,692 of which were subject to party and government disciplines.
There’s is much skepticism however. A Jan. 11 commentary pointed out that “catching over 100,000 corrupt officials in a year is pretty shameful, but CCP is boasting about it; its purpose is to fool people.”
Deception Game
Guo Yongfeng, founder of the Association of Chinese Citizens for Monitoring the Government, believes the reported numbers and touting of anti-corruption effectiveness is just part of the facade.
“There is no CCP official that is not corrupt. Can anti-corruption figures truly prove anti-corruption? Are the people who are conducting the anti-corruption investigations also corrupt? Who is there to oppose their corruption? Is there a solution to this?” Guo asked.
“Therefore, the figures mean nothing. It can only fool and deceive some people who are already blinded. Rational people can easily tell it’s a lie,” Guo said.
Columnist and commentator Lin Zixu thinks its totally absurd for CCP to air its anti-corruption achievements.
“If someone boasted that he had caught hundreds of mice in his house in a year, is that house a place you'd want to go? Aren’t these corrupt officials like big rats? A political party can single out over 100,000 corrupt officials in a year, how shameful it is!” Lin wrote.
“Anyone else would hide it immediately, but the CCP is boasting about it. Their only goal is to fool the people. The CCP has raised a lot of rats to exploit people, and now people want to overthrow it. So, the CCP catches some small mice to ease public anger; this is what I see,” Lin wrote.
In Guo’s opinion, the CCP is using political struggle as a power play: “The CCP’s anti-corruption campaigns have always been a political struggle needed in order to play with power. Those in power conduct anti-corruption efforts against those who are disobedient or lack power. Moreover, once one is targeted, many more are implicated.
“During these anti-corruption campaigns they refuse to release asset information and reject civil organizations independent monitoring. How can a rotten party discipline itself? It’s corrupt people disciplining corrupt people!”
The CCDI report shows that Chinese officials have formed a network of corruption. Among 25 provincial and central authorities, 112 key officials were sacked. Many of them were involved in group corruption, such as the bribery case in Hengyang of Hunan Province, the investigation of many officials in the National Land Agency of Anhui Province, and the high-profile Petro China corruption case.
Lin said the corruption in CCP’s financial system is beyond cure: “Society’s wealth is controlled by the CCP’s princeling families and is in the trillions of U.S. Dollars. Who can touch these people? To put it plainly, these people are the power base of current CCP leadership, and these people are behind the corruption in Chinese society.
“In fact, the real ‘in-charge’ CCP magnates are not just corrupt—in their eyes the entire country belongs to them including: water, electricity, telecommunications, petroleum, transportation, etc.—the most important sectors are controlled by these people. Just like ancient emperors who said, ‘There is no land in this world that doesn’t belong to me,’ the CCP’s princeling families probably have the same thought.”
Written in English by Arleen Richards.
Original article: Sound of Hope Radio Network
