Anti-Corruption Campaign of Xi Jinping

The last 30 years have seen both huge economic growth and a significant surge in corruption. The country now ranks 80th in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, but it also has one of the highest GDP per capita growth rates in the world. Many economists refer to this pattern as a "double paradox," because economic theory links corruption and economic expansion negatively (Wedeman para 3). Simply put, higher levels of political corruption should result in lower levels of economic development. Such countries, however, where a political organization provides money in exchange for massive political support, become an exception. With the help of this kind of “development corruption”, the economy of the country can be temporarily fueled by the corruption; however, it will not lead to long-term benefits. China is a country with one of the best developed anti-corruption campaigns, which has proved its effectiveness for years. The present research is going to discuss Xi Jinping's Anti-Corruption Campaign, its comparison with the previously adopted policies and analysis, whether Xi Jinping's campaign is effective in rooting out the corrupt officials.

Previous Anti-Corruption Campaign in China

China uses its well-developed and effective political machine of the Communist Party to practice and fight corruption as well. There are, however negative consequences of such work of the Communist party: timing, the nature of reform and the “war on corruption”, initiated by the leadership. In the late 1970s, when China started developing the economic reforms and experiencing economic growth, it has not included anti -corrupt practices in its politics (Wedeman para 4). Thus, the country managed to expand before corruption intensified and spread over the economy. The leaders and politicians were focused on transfer of the huge amount of value from the control of the bureaucracy to powers, controlling the market. It has resulted in the creation of massive bonus profits. When the government and officials realized benefits, share of profits motivated raise of corruption during the 1990s (Wedeman para 5). For the next 32 years, China was sank in corruption and made desperate attempts to deal with the issue and combat with the corrupted officials. Approximately 1,000 officials were sentenced to death (Wedeman para 5). Despite the limited headway of the leadership policies, the previous Chinese political regime has more or less managed to fight corruption.

Current Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign

Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign is regarded the most important one since the beginning of the period of reforms in China. Xi Jiping took the position of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012; he has taken a course for purposeful and systematic anti-corruption policy (Wedeman para 6). One of the major differences of his campaign is that it was activated on four fronts, instead of one, on which previous campaigns have been focused. The first front was called “prolonged trench war,” with the use of tactics and special policies. It was like a war, with lots of bodies and less decisive actions forwarded for fighting with corruption in the middle level. The second front included fight with “Netizens” and local officials (Wedeman para 6). This part of campaign was important, as it resulted in removal of the corrupted officials during 48 hours since the events were highlighted in Internet. Moreover, attacks against commercial corruption have been taken and were more effective that those in the past. Xi Jinping tried to personally lead attacks on the companies and businessmen, who were suspected of paying bribes. Finally, the last “aerial combat” front was aimed at dealing with high-level officials and corrupt businessmen (Wedeman para 6).

It is necessary to note that before the initiation of anti-corruption campaign by Xi Jinping the corruption scandals were revealed by accident and no specific investigations have been taken. For instance, politician Chen Liangyu was caught in the course of the audit in 2006. Bo Xilai was arrested for corruption, after it became known about the responsibility of his wife in the murder of English businessman Neil Heywood. In other words, since the beginning of Xi Jinping’s campaign in 2012, scandals and cases of corruption have been uncovered systematically (Wedeman para 7). In addition, the number of people, accused in corruption, has been greater, compared with the previous campaigns in China.

According to the statistical data, provided by the Financial Times, for the majority of representatives of China’s Communist, the chances of being seriously punished or accused in corruption remain small. During the first three years of anti-corruption campaign, approximately 36,000 party members were delivered to China’s courts for further prosecution (Lockett para 12). At the same time, approximately 750,000 representatives were disciplined by the party (Lockett para 12). The experts on party disciplinary mechanisms focus on the fact that in most cases, officials were only warn or demerit (Lockett para 12). More than 1 million of the members of the Communist party, which accounts 88 million representatives, have received severe punishments since 2013 (The associated press para 4). These numbers are astonishing, as China still does not have an independent anti-corruption body. They state that the party and government can be good examination organ without involvement of other officials. Only in this case it is possible to root out corruption.

Since taking the position four years ago, President Xi Jinping has managed to assure everyone that his anti-corruption campaign is serious step. It is not only the part of his election campaign and desire to impress voters. Xi Jinping has initiated war against deep-seated graft. Je underlined that the problem is so bad that it could affect the work of the party and influence the work of the government. As a result of campaign, many senior governors have been jailed. One of such officials is Zhou Yongkang, China’s domestic security chief, who was sentenced to death for corruption last year. Most of the representatives of the mass media state that the battle against corruption is on its climax. “Recent years have seen huge progress and improved public confidence in the campaign to strictly govern the Party and fight corruption” (Reuters para 4). In addition to already exiting results, the campaign has active plans for 2017. It is estimated that in 2017, the existing level of corruption will be reduced. Moreover, dealing with “undesirable work styles and corruption” should be continued (Reuters para 4). Although, the success of the anti-corruption campaign is obvious and has already proven its effectiveness, many critics of Xi Jinping state that corruption is a playing with fire. They suppose that the current campaign could start a political explosion, in case Xi Jinping applies certain strategy in his campaign. Many opponents of such radical measures are sure that this campaign is a result of factional politics. However, supporters still agree with the aims of campaign, forwarded for rooting out the corrupt officials.

Conclusion

Even though, the anti-corruption campaign, taken by Xi Jinping has proven its effectiveness, some experts still argue that it will not eliminate corruption till the end. Corruption will remain in China. It is stated that although this campaign was the only chance to clean the Chinese government from corruption, it was aimed to be politically advantageous for Xi Jinping personally (Wedeman para 18). They say that after removal of Zhou Yangkang and other officials, who were related to him, Xi Jinping will have the opportunity to appoint hundreds of people for influential and important economic and political positions (Dexter para 5). Although, campaign has already demonstrated its effectiveness and necessity, the country still witnesses slew of political scandals. They, however, do not signify that Chinese officials are still corrupted. It is more likely to mean that these are aftershocks of old corruption, with which Chinese people have been living for 20 years. Xi Jinping’s campaign is a necessity for China; however, total elimination of corruption would take many years. At present, this campaign is not only an effective way to root out the corrupted officials, but support the status of the current President.













































Works Cited

Dexter, Robert. “Xi Jinping's Anti-corruption Paradox." Bloomberg Businessweek. Web 2014. Accessed March 7, 2017 at

Lockett, Hudson. “China anti-corruption campaign backfires. Xi Jinping drive to cleanse Communist party of graft tarnishes its image”. Financial times. Web 2016. Accessed March 7, 2017 at

Reuters. “China: Anti-corruption Efforts Working, No Letup in 2017”. Voanews. Web 2016. Accessed March 7, 2017 at

The associated press. “China’s Xi Jinping to Stress Anti-Corruption Campaign Isn’t Over”. NBC news. Web 2016. Accessed March 7, 2017 at < http://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/china-s-xi-jinping-stress-anti-corruption-campaign-isn-t-n671611>

Wedeman, Andrew. “China's war on corruption: Where is it headed?” UCLA center for Chinese Studies. Web 2014, Accessed March 7, 2017 at < http://aatturkic.org/ccs/article/139065>



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