Beijing’s propaganda department showed off its anti-corruption achievements at a press conference on June 30, saying its decade-long campaign has investigated millions of people and punished hundreds of thousands.
Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, the regime’s anti-graft probes have investigated more than 4 million cases involving 4.7 million people removed from the post and imprisoned, and disciplined 644,000 people who violated regulations in the government or party, as of April, 2022, it was announced at the press conference.
Xi’s anti-corruption campaign has targeted his opponents in the military, and the political and legal apparatus. However, analysts believe his true enemy is the ideological trap he has set himself up in.
The Enemy Within
On June 30, the party’s magazine Qiushi published the talk Xi Jinping gave in January, on strengthening the leading cadres’ socialist ideology.
Xi asserted his determination to crack down on cadres who act as agents of various interests and political elites.
On June 17, Xi stressed the anti-graft campaign is a political war that he will not and cannot lose.
According to the post on June 15 by Xi’s top anti-graft watchdog, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the latest purged high official is Zhang Wufeng, the head of the national food and strategic reserves.
Zhang was formerly a member of the CCDI committee.
Zhou Yongkang in a courtroom in Tianjin where he was sentenced to life in prison on June 11, 2015. CCTV via AP
Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese law academic in exile, analyzed how Xi’s campaign helped to secure his status in the military by removing the major influence of Jiang Zemin, the party’s former leader and Xi’s political opponent. But Xi continued the practice of bribery of the military, which is how Xi could control the military quickly by appeasing the military leaders in a broad sense.
However, the resistance Xi encountered continued in the political and legal apparatus, Yuan said.
When China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang was sacked on charges of bribery, abuse of power, and leaking state secrets, Jiang Zemin,his powerful patron, remained untouched, as was the strong network of opponent’s in the political and legal system.
Wang Youqun, a Chinese affairs analyst, indicated that former leader Jiang Zemin and his crony Zeng Qinghong are the backstage chiefs of the massive corrupt officials and cadres. But, neither Jiang or Zeng has been investigated.
Wang commented that under communist rule, “When one corrupt official is down, thousands of corrupt officials will emerge immediately,” Wang said.
The Ideological Trap
Wang also said that propaganda always heads the path of any political movement of the regime.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Wang Huning (R) arrive at the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conferencein Beijing, China, on March 13, 2015. Feng Li/Getty Images
Wang Huning, a main propaganda influencer, has been the ideological strategist for three leaders, including Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. He’s the man behind, or better yet, the man who formulated the three leaders’ central policies.
Commentator Wang Youqun said that the so-called political ideology originated from the same source, Marx’s Communist Manifesto—a code of violence, lies, war, famine, and dictatorship.
He believes the code was inherited in the dictatorship’s ideology that intoxicated all cadres in the Chinese Communist Party, including its current leader Xi Jinping.
The campaign of anti-corruption, as Xi mentioned when he first took power, would be a matter of life or death of the regime and the party.
However, the facts of the campaign seemed to indicate that Xi is engaging in an endless campaign and he has set himself up in his own trap.
Ning Haizhong contributed to this report.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Mary Hong
Author
Mary Hong is a NTD reporter based in Taiwan. She covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Mary primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."
