Progress
against corruption
(11/05/2002)
By Zhang jian and Fan Qiangfei
Corruption is a worldwide problem besetting many countries, and
China is no exception to this scourge.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the
Communist Party of China (CPC), as the ruling party, has consistently
warned its members to keep vigilant against corruption, which was
basically kept at bay before the reform and opening up policy was
launched in 1978. Since then the country has witnessed two waves
of corruption.
First, as China began to transform its planned economy to a market-oriented
one in the late 1970s, a "double track" pricing system
was enforced for production materials, which meant the same commodity
could have two prices, with that set by the government substantially
lower than the market price.
Some middlemen, taking advantage of the loopholes in the pricing
system, began to bribe powerful officials to get their hands on
the lower-priced commodities. Later they would sell the low-priced
goods at higher prices to others.
Then, in the 1990s, with the country's capital markets and SOE
reform in their initial development stages and suffering from incomplete
rules and regulations, came a new wave of corruption.
Some officials took bribes and then granted low-interest rate loans
to those who bribed them. Some embezzled public funds and then invested
the money in real estate, stocks or futures markets for personal
gain. Some SOE managers either underestimated the State assets or
embezzled. Some even transferred State property to their personal
accounts during the restructuring process, resulting in heavy losses
of State assets.
At the turn of the new century, the country is confronted with
challenges and opportunities in its anti-corruption campaign.
In a sense, China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
last year means the operation of government will be under a type
of worldwide supervision. This means not only that the government's
administration will be restrained by WTO rules, but also that the
government needs to play the dual role of exercising public power
and shouldering due responsibilities. Hence, the ability of the
government to make unilateral decisions will be greatly reduced
and its behaviour will be greatly standardized.
On the other hand, the expected boom in foreign trade and business
ties with the outside world following WTO accession will make some
officials from important government departments more tempted by
corruption as they face increased opportunities for illegal material
gain.
The CPC has never relented in its anti-corruption crusade. From
1989 to May 2002 alone, some 610,000 corruption-related cases have
been investigated and closed, in which 30 ministerial-level officials
were convicted.
While meting out severe punishments for the corrupt, the Party
is also striving to build a solid economic system and to pay more
attention to corruption prevention.
In recent years, as reform is spearheaded in such areas as administrative
approval, finance, and personnel systems, a large number of rules
and regulations have been enacted and enforced to restrain the illegal
actions of government officials. This has helped institutionalize
the Party's anti-corruption campaign.
According to statistics, about 20 directives and regulations relating
to Party discipline were issued by the Central Committee of the
CPC from 1993 to 2000 alone.
Institutional reform and tightened management supervision aimed
at preventing the abuse of power from the very beginning have proven
to be an effective and fundamental way to root out corruption.
Meanwhile, toughened administrative and legal measures against
the corruption have effectively put a brake on corruption and resulted
in a higher degree of public satisfaction on the issue.
Opinion polls show that in 2002, 74 per cent of those surveyed
were satisfied with the progress of the current anti-corruption
campaign, 69 per cent of those polled said they thought that corruption
had been to some extent curtailed, and 68 per cent have confidence
in the campaign. The figures are 12 per cent, 13 per cent and 10
per cent up from 1996 figures respectively.
The perception of governing by law has taken root and has gradually
been accepted as the standard method of public administration.
China has also put in place a set of mechanisms to combat corruption,
such as the requirement that officials make public their individual
property holdings; the regulation on making officials accountable
for (or even resign because of) wrongdoings; and the audit and democratic
evaluation system for government officials.
With the enforcement of such measures, we have every reason to
believe there are bright prospects for the anti-corruption campaign
and that the CPC will prove once again that it is a party deserving
of public confidence.
(The authors are researchers with the Institute of Marxism, Leninism
and Mao Zedong Thought under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
)
(China Daily)
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