Corruption in China

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY HUNTS CORRUPT CADRES

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely It was true in the past, it is true in the present and it will be true in the future too. One needs no Yudhishthir in the Dronacharya’s Gurukul to memorise and practise this emphasis on the Truth. The sociologists and political science scholars know it but fee helpless in eradicating corruption from the powerful ruling party and the govt run by the party. In China the problem assumes a larger than life image because there is no opposition party to point out cases of corruption. The constitution of the People’s Republic of China lays down that there will be just one political party in the country and it is the Chinese Communist Party.

SELF POLICING SELF CLEANSING

The Chinese Communist Party has an overwhelmingly large membership and its cadres assume power and are backed by the State. It is, therefore, necessary for the party hierarchy to ensure Equality before Law and Integrity from the top echelon to the grass roots. Since an average villager, a farmer or an artisan comes in contact with the Communist officials running the show at the village or district level, it is important that they be given clean and impartial administration. If an official or a cadre member seems to be getting rich overnight, he or she has to be probed and action taken as per law.

Hu Jintao is the President and Head of State of China. Besides that and what is more important is his position as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He said at the 90^th founding day of the Chinese Communist Party that the Party will intensify its efforts to combat corruption which is crucial in gaining popular support for the party and ensuring its very survival. “If not effectively curbed, corruption will cost the Party the trust and support of the people” Hu Jintao added.

It is a good idea to share the experiences of the party officials chosen to check corruption at the village level. The discipline watchdogs of the CPC are hated and feared by the corrupt officials. The discipline watchdogs are a driving force in ridding the party of graft, official abuse and corruption of sorts. Tian Zhirong is one of the crusaders against corruption. He took his work seriously and achieved good results. He earned a promotion to the post of party chief of Fengzhuang town in Shaanxi province. He records that when he visited places affected by corruption and recorded evidence impartially, some unsocial elements threw stones into his room to frighten him. The goons of the corrupt used to browbeat his wife when she was alone cooking in the kitchen. At times she urged him not torub the corrupt powerful and remain out of harm’s way but he went ahead and discharged his duties without fear or favour.

His salary is Renminbi 3,000 per month. Once while investigating a case of corruption, the affected official quietly slipped 2,000 Yuan into his room. A lot of money indeed. Tian Zhirong deposited the amount in public accounts and gave his findings unaffected by the attempted bribery.

Tian observed that the biggest challenge for a discipline supervisor is Conquering Himself.

Pooling together experiences of discipline watchdogs one finds that the corrupt officials entertain the high visiting officials in every possible way. Wine and dinner plus looking after the creature comforts of the visiting dignitary has now become a tradition that needs tobe erased from the book of hospitality. The honest Inspecting Teams prefer to dine in the community kitchen where alcohol is prohibited. They just spend 20 yuans on a meal and save the public money. The conduct of this nature inspires confidence among the complainant and he expects justice to be done and the corrupt punished.

When and where the discipline supervisors how zero tolerance for corrupt practices the image of the communist party improves One, however, wonders what the ratio of the Honest discipline Watchdogs to the Dishonest ones is. The only way to find out the rea state of affairs is to see if the common man is happy or unhappy. A pertinent observation of honest watchdogs is: As long as influential officials are overwhelmed by Lust and animal passions, corruption will not only exist but flourish. The aim of watchdogs is to minimise cases of corruption as far as possible. They realise that complete eradication may not be feasible under the present circumstances.

ENLIGHTENING STATISTICS

In the year 2010 China investigated 2723 corrupt officials at or above county level that is equivalent to a district in the Indian context. 188 were of the Prefecture level and six at the ministerial level. It is heartening to note that in July this year two deputy mayors of Hangzhou and Suzhou were executed for corruption, read bribery. Xu Maiyong accepted a bribe of 145 million Yuan and also embezzled public money for promoting self interests.

Liu Zhijun, the Minister for Railways was removed from his high post in February this year as he was implicated in corruption and “severe violation” of discipline.

Generally speaking such statistics were not released by China before but they are doing so now to prove to the common man in China that both the Party and the government are serious on curbing corruption and that no one , howsoever high he or she may be, would be spared. Indeed it is a matter of credibility of the Communist Party of China and the leadership is committed to providing a corruption free administration to the citizens of the Middle Kingdom that China was known as in times gone by.

By Brigadier(Retd) Chitranjan Sawant,VSM

UPVAN  609, Sector 29, Noida – 201303  INDIA 

Email :  upvanom@yahoo.com   or   sawantgchitranjan@gmail.com