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Corruption in China post-1949 refers to the abuse of political power for private ends typically by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who hold the majority of power in the country. Corruption is a very significant problem in China,[1] impacting all aspects of administration, law enforcement,[2]healthcare[3] and education.[4] Since the Chinese economic reforms began, corruption has been attributed to "organizational involution"[5] caused by the market liberalization reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Like other socialist economies that have undertaken economic reforms, such as post-Soviet Eastern Europe and Central Asia, reform-era China has experienced increasing levels of corruption.[6]
Public surveys on the mainland since the late 1980s have shown that corruption is among the top concerns of the general public. According to Yan Sun, Associate Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York, it was cadre corruption, rather than a demand for democracy as such, that lay at the root of the social dissatisfaction that led to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.[6] Corruption undermines the legitimacy of the CCP, adds to economic inequality, undermines the environment, and fuels social unrest.[7]
Since the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, corruption has not slowed as a result of greater economic freedom, but instead has grown more entrenched and severe in its character and scope. In popular perception, there are more dishonest CCP officials than honest ones, a reversal of the views held in the first decade of reform of the 1980s.[6] Chinese political scientist Minxin Pei argues that failure to contain widespread corruption is among the most serious threats to China's future economic and political stability.[7] He estimates that bribery, kickbacks, theft, and waste of public funds costs at least three percent of GDP.
The spread of corruption in traditional China is often connected to the Confucian concept of renzhi (人治; rénzhì; 'Rule of the people') as opposed to the legalist "rule of law" (法治; Fǎzhì). Profit was despised as preoccupation of the base people, while the true Confucians were supposed to be guided in their actions by the moral principle of justice (义; 義; yì). Thus, all relations were based solely on mutual trust and propriety. As a matter of course, this kind of moral uprightness could be developed only among a minority. The famous attempt of Wang Anshi to institutionalize the monetary relations of the state, thus reducing corruption, were met with sharp criticism by the Confucian elite. As a result, corruption continued to be widespread both in the court (Wei Zhongxian, Heshen) and among the local elites, and became one of the targets for criticism in the novel Jin Ping Mei. Another kind of corruption came about in Tang China, developed in connection with the imperial examination system.
In the late Ming dynasty, robust international trade brought an influx of silver into China, enriching merchants and becoming a target of government officials. In the early 1600s, literary works like The Book of Swindles created typologies of fraud, including categories such as "Government Underlings" and "Corruption in Education."[9]
The widespread corruption of the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, is often credited as being an important component in the defeat of the KMT by the Communist People's Liberation Army. Though the Nationalist Army was initially better equipped and had superior numbers, the KMT's rampant corruption damaged its popularity, limited its support base, and helped the communists in their propaganda war.[citation needed]
People's Republic of China
Getting high quality, reliable, and standardized survey data on the severity of corruption in the PRC is enormously difficult. However, a variety of sources can still be tapped, which "present a sobering picture," according to Minxin Pei, an academic with expertise on Chinese affairs.[10]
Official deviance and corruption have taken place at both the individual and unit level since the founding of the PRC. Initially the practices had much to do with the danwei (simplified Chinese:单位; traditional Chinese:單位; pinyin:dān wèi) (literally, "unit") system, an outgrowth of communist wartime organs.[11] In the PRC the reforms of Deng Xiaoping were much criticized for making corruption the price of economic development. Corruption during Mao's reign also existed, however.[12]
Emergence of the private sector inside the state economy in post-Mao China has tempted CCP members to misuse their power in government posts; the powerful economic levers in the hands of the elite has propelled the sons of some party officials to the most profitable positions. For this, the CCP has been called the "princelings' party" (Chinese:太子党; pinyin:taizidang), a reference to nepotistic corruption in some periods of Imperial China. The relatives of several prominent political leaders are reported to have generated large personal wealth in business, including relatives of former Premier Wen Jiabao,[13] current CCP general secretary Xi Jinping,[14] and former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai.[15] Attacking corruption in the CCP was one of the forces behind the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.[16]
The politically unchallenged regime in China creates opportunities for cadres to exploit and control the rapid growth of economic opportunities; and while incentives to corruption grow, effective countervailing forces are absent.[17]
Both structural and non-structural corruption has been prevalent in China. Non-structural corruption exists around the world, and refers to all activities that can be clearly defined as "illegal" or "criminal," mainly including different forms of graft: embezzlement, extortion, bribery etc. Structural corruption arises from particular economic and political structures; this form is difficult to root out without a change of the broader system.[11]
Weak state institutions are blamed for worsening corruption in reform-era China. New Left scholars on China criticise the government for apparent "blind faith" in the market, and especially for its erosion of authority and loss of control of local agencies and agents since 1992. Others also see strong links between institutional decline and rising corruption.[18] Corruption in China results from the Party-State's inability to maintain a disciplined and effective administrative corps, according to Lü Xiaobo, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College. The Chinese reform-era state has also been an enabling factor, since state agencies have been granted regulatory power without institutional constraints, allowing them to tap into new opportunities to seek profits from the rapid growth in businesses and the economy. This takes place at both the departmental and individual level.[19] Corruption here is part of the dilemma faced by any reforming socialist state, where the state needs to play an active role in creating and regulating markets, while at the same time its own intervention places extra burdens on administrative budgets. Instead of being able to reduce the size of its bureaucratic machinery (and therefore opportunities for corruption), it is instead pressed to expand further. Officials then cash in on the regulatory power by "seeking rents."[20][21]
However, not all forms of corruption are out of control. Yuen Yuen Ang’s research shows that although bribery exploded from the 2000s onward, other predatory forms of corruption such as embezzlement and misuse of public funds simultaneously declined. Moreover, the way bribery is conducted has shifted to more sophisticated methods.[22] Publishing in 2024, academic Lan Xiaohuan writes that China has relatively little of the petty corruption found in other developing countries.[23]:115
In 2010, in a rare move due to its perceived impact on stability, Li Jinhua, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (NCCPPCC) and former long-serving auditor general of the National Audit Office, fired a warning shot in the People's Daily, calling for better legal structures and greater supervision over the business dealings of officials and their children. He said the rapidly growing wealth of CCP officials’ children and family members "is what the public is most dissatisfied about".[16]
According to a January, 2014 investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists more than a dozen family members of China's top political and military leaders are linked to offshore companies based in the British Virgin Islands. The report shows that the brother-in-law of China's current Paramount leader, Xi Jinping and the son-in-law of former premier Wen Jiabao are amongst those making use of offshore financial havens to avoid tax and transfer money overseas.[24][25] The Golden Shield Project has blocked foreign news sites that have reported on the scandal.[26]
In Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, which scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"), China scored 42. When ranked by score, China ranked 76th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.[29] For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180).[30] For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Asia Pacific region[Note 1] was 85, the average score was 45 and the lowest score was 17.[31] The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index had showed decreasing corruption in China, and that in 2021 and 2022, for the first time, China had less perceived corruption than the average country; that is, China's 2021–22 score of 45 was higher than the average score of 43.[32][33]
Opinion surveys of CCP officials and Chinese citizens identify corruption as one of the public's top concerns. Every year, researchers at the Central Party School, the CCP organ that trains senior and midlevel officials, survey over 100 officials at the school. Between 1999 and 2004 respondents ranked corruption as either the most serious or second most serious social problem.[7] Similarly, in late 2006 the State Council’s Development Research Center asked 4,586 business executives (87 percent in nonstate firms) to rate their local officials in terms of integrity. Almost one-quarter said that their local officials were “bad”; 12 percent said they were “very bad.”[7] A Harvard University study of more than 30,000 Chinese found that in 2016, 65% of respondents believed that local officials were not corrupt, an improvement from 35% in 2011.[23]:116
Official corruptions are among the populace's greatest gripes against the regime. According to Yan Sun, "If the Party executes every official for corruption, it will overdo a little; but if the Party executes every other official for corruption, it cannot go wrong."[6] In contemporary China, bribe taking has become so entrenched that one party secretary in a poor county received repeated death threats for rejecting over 600,000 Renminbi in bribes during his tenure. In 1994, in another area officially designated "impoverished," a delegation of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization arrived for a conference on development, but upon seeing rows of imported luxury cars outside the conference site asked the local officials "Are you really poor?"[6] A rare online opinion poll in 2010 by the People's Daily found that 91% of respondents believe all rich families in China have political backgrounds.[16]
Graft is the most common and refers to bribery, illicit kickbacks, embezzlement, and theft of public funds. Graft involves something of value given to, and accepted by, public officials for dishonest or illegal purposes. It includes officials spending fraudulently or using public funds for their own benefit.[36]
Rent-seeking refers to all forms of corrupt behaviour by people with monopolistic power. Public officials, through granting a license or monopoly to their clients, get "rents"—additional earnings as a result of a restricted market. Rent-seeking happens when officials grant rents to those in their favor.[36] This is akin to cronyism. In the Chinese case, public officials are both rent-generators and rent-seekers, both making rent opportunities for others and seeking such opportunities to benefit themselves. This may include profiteering by officials or official firms, extortion in the form of illicit impositions, fees, and other charges.[36]
Prebendalism refers to when incumbents of public office get privileges and perquisites through that office.[36] Controlling an office entitles the holder to rents or payments for real or fake activities, and organizations are turned from places of work into "resource banks" where individuals and groups pursue their own interests. Prebendal corruption doesn't necessarily need to be about monetary gain, but may include usurpation of official privilege, backdoor deals, clientelism, cronyism, nepotism.[36]
Corruption in the PRC has developed in two major ways. In the first mode, corruption is in the form of ostensibly legal official expenditure, but is actually wasteful and directed toward private benefits. For example, the increasing number of local governments building massive administrative office buildings that resemble luxurious mansions.[10] At the same time, many corrupt local officials have turned their jurisdictions into virtual “mafia states,” where they collude with criminal elements and unsavory businessmen in illegal activities.[10] In the People's Liberation Army (PLA), corruption took the form of senior posts and promotions being sold and those in positions of authority soliciting bribes from military contractors and businesses involving PLA-controlled real estate.[37]
While the state and its bureaucrats are major players in the reform-era economy, new interests and concentrations of economic power have been created, without legitimate channels between administrators and entrepreneurs.[17] A lack of regulation and supervision has meant these roles are not clearly demarcated (Lü Xiaobo in his text titles one section "From Apparatchiks to Entrepreneurchiks").[38] Illicit guandao enterprises formed by networks of bureaucrats and entrepreneurs are allowed to grow, operating behind a facade of a government agency or state-owned enterprise, in a realm neither fully public nor private.[17] More recently, Ben Hillman has shown how official corruption is facilitated by intrastate patronage networks. According to Hillman, patronage networks 'grease the wheels' of a dysfunctional bureaucracy while simultaneously extracting spoils for the private benefit of their members. Patronage networks also protect transgressors from intrusion by the Party-state's disciplinary agencies. Hillman's study of patronage networks helps to explain how corruption and economic development have been able to coexist in China.[39]
The PLA has also become a major economic player, and participant in large- and small-scale corruption at the same time. Inconsistent tax policy, and a politicised and poorly organised banking system, create ample opportunities for favouritism, kickbacks, and "outright theft," according to Michael Johnston, Professor of Political Science at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.[17]
Corruption has also taken the form of collusion between CCP officials and criminal gangs. Often hidden inside legitimate businesses, gangs had infiltrated public offices and worked closely with the police.[40]The Telegraph quoted an employee of a state company saying: "In fact, the police stations in Chongqing were actually the centre of the prostitution, gambling and drugs rackets. They would detain gangsters from time to time, and sometimes send them to prison, but the gangsters described it as going away for a holiday. The police and the mafia were buddies." In some cases, innocents were hacked to death by roaming gangs whose presence was allowed by regime officials, according to the Telegraph.[40]
China's housing boom, and the shift of central government policy towards social housing, are providing officials more ways to siphon off properties for personal gain. The Financial Times cites a number of public scandals involving local officials in 2010: for example, in province, eastern China, a complex of 3,500 apartments designated as social housing in Rizhao, Shandong, was sold to local officials at prices 30-50 per cent below market values. It said in Meixian, Shaanxi, around 80 percent of the city's first social housing development, called Urban Beautiful Scenery, went to local officials. In Xinzhou, Shanxi, a new complex of 1,578 apartments on the local government's list of designated social housing was almost entirely reserved for local officials, many were 'flipped' for tidy profits even before construction was completed. Jones Lang LaSalle said that transparency about the plans for affordable housing was severely lacking.[43]
Effects
Whether the effects of corruption in China are solely positive or negative is a subject of hot debate. Corruption is harmful in that it favors the most connected and unscrupulous, rather than the efficient. It also creates entry barriers in the market for those without such connections.[44] Bribes also misdirect resources into wasteful or poor-quality projects. Further, proceeds from illegal transactions are usually sent to foreign bank accounts, resulting in capital flight.[44] In short, as Yan Sun argues, corruption distorts and retards development.[45]
The deleterious effects of corruption were documented in detail in Minxin Pei's report. The amount of money involved in corruption scandals has risen exponentially since the 1980s, and corruption is now more concentrated in state-controlled sectors.[7] These include infrastructure projects, real estate, government procurement, and financial services. Pei estimates the cost of corruption could be up to $86 billion per year, though he does not specify his methodology for arriving at such an estimate.[7]
Corruption in China also harms Western business interests, in particular foreign investors. They risk human rights, environmental, and financial liabilities, at the same time squaring off against rivals who engage in illegal practices to win business.[7] In the long term, corruption has potentially "explosive consequences," including widening income inequalities within cities and between city and countryside, and creating a new, highly visible class of "socialist millionaires," which further fuels resentment from the citizenry.[17]
Some corruption scandals violently attacked ordinary citizens, as in the case of Hewan village in Jiangsu province, where 200 thugs were hired to attack local farmers and force them off their land so Party bosses could build a petrochemical plant. Sun Xiaojun, the party chief of Hewan village, was later arrested. One farmer died.[46] Officials have also employed hit men or launched acid attacks on their rivals. In August 2009, a former director of the Communications Bureau in Hegang, Heilongjiang, who hired hitmen to kill his successor, supposedly because of the latter's ingratitude, was given the death penalty.[47]
On the other hand, it is argued that corruption can bring benefits, and thus frown on anticorruption efforts for three reasons: rooting out corruption may lead to excessive caution; corruption may act as a "lubricant" to "loosen up" the bureaucracy and facilitate commercial exchanges; and thirdly, corruption is a necessary trade-off and inevitable part of the process of reform and opening up.[48] They argue that corruption helps allocate power to officials, perhaps even enabling the rise of a "new system" and acting as a driving force for reform.[49]
A third argument is that corruption should not be understood simplistically as being either "good" or "bad." Political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that all corruption is harmful, but different types of corruption harm in different ways. The defining type of corruption in China, according to her, is called "access money," exchange-based corruption among elites (for example, massive graft). She compares such corruption to steroids: "steroids are known as 'growth-enhancing drugs,' but they come with serious side effects."[50] In an interview with The Diplomat, Ang said, "The right way to understand China's economy is that it's not just a high-growth economy, but also an imbalanced and unequal economy. This reflects the prevalence of access money."[51] Academic Lan Xiaohuan distinguishes between (1) predatory corruption like extortion or bribery which impair property rights and (2) cronyism, which can coexist with economic growth for a time but which over the long term impairs or distorts economic development.[23]:115
Countermeasures
The CCP has employed anti-corruption measures by creating laws and agencies for the purpose of decreasing corruption.
The Criminal Law of China (1997) defines numerous corruption-related offenses, the most common of which include: embezzlement, bribery, collective embezzlement, misappropriation, holding huge property with unidentified sources, misuse of authority, dereliction of duty, and fraud.[52]:120
In 2004, the CCP devised strict regulations on officials assuming posts in business and enterprise. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party issued a joint circular instructing CCP committees, governments and related departments at all levels not to give approval for Party and government officials to take up concurrent posts in enterprises.[53] Law 395 related to the illicit enrichment of public officials was also enacted.
In 2007, Chinese authorities established a National Corruption Prevention Bureau, focused primarily on gathering information and intra-agency coordination. Unlike the Ministry of Supervision, Procuratorate, or CCDI, the NCPB was focused on "implementing preventive measures, monitoring the transfer of assets across organizations, facilitating and promoting information sharing between agencies, and policing corrupt practices within the nongovernmental sphere, including private enterprises, social organizations and NGOs."[54] The lack of independence of the NCPB however meant that its impact on actual corruption was limited.
The Anti-Unfair Competition Law prohibits commercial bribery punishable by economic and administrative sanctions. It is prohibited to give or receive bribes in the course of selling or purchasing goods. In case of misconduct, companies are fined in between 10.000 RMB and 200.000 RMB The Criminal Law of China prohibits giving and receiving property to obtain an undue benefit, with penalties including fines, confiscation of property, imprisonment or death. Such measures are largely ineffective, however, due to the insufficient enforcement of the relevant laws.[10] Further, because the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection largely operates in secrecy, it is unclear to researchers how allegedly corrupt officials are disciplined and punished. The odds for a corrupt official to end up in prison are less than three percent, making corruption a high-return, low risk activity. This leniency of punishment has been one of the main reasons corruption is such a serious problem in China.[10]
While corruption has grown in scope and complexity, anti-corruption policies, on the other hand, have not changed much.[17] Communist-style mass campaigns with anti-corruption slogans, moral exhortations, and prominently displayed miscreants, are still a key part of official policy, much as they were in the 1950s.[17]
In 2009, according to internal CCP reports, there were 106,000 officials found guilty of corruption, an increase of 2.5 percent on the previous year. The number of officials caught embezzling more than one million RMB (US$146,000) went up by 19 percent over the year. With no independent oversight like NGOs or free media, corruption has flourished.[55]
These efforts are punctuated by an occasional harsh prison term for major offenders, or even executions. But rules and values for business and bureaucratic conduct are in flux, sometimes contradictory, and “deeply politicized.”[17] In many countries systematic anti-corruption measures include independent trade and professional associations, which help limit corruption by promulgating codes of ethics and imposing quick penalties, watchdog groups like NGOs, and a free media. In China, these measures do not exist as a result of the CCP's means of rule.[17]
Thus, while CCP disciplinary organs and prosecutorial agencies produce impressive statistics on corruption complaints received from the public, few citizens or observers believe corruption is being systematically addressed.[17]
There are also limits to how far anti-corruption measures will go. For example, when Hu Jintao's son was implicated in a corruption investigation in Namibia, Chinese Internet portals and Party-controlled media were ordered not to report on it.[56]
At the same time, local leaders engage in "corruption protectionism," as coined by the head of the Hunan provincial Party Discipline Inspection Commission; apparatchiks thwart corruption investigations against the staff of their own agencies, allowing them to escape punishment. In some cases this has impelled high-ranking officials to form special investigative groups with approval from the central government to avoid local resistance and enforce cooperation.[57] However, since in China vertical and horizontal leadership structures often run at odds with one another, CCP anti-corruption agencies find it hard to investigate graft at the lower levels. The goal of effectively controlling corruption thus remains elusive to the ruling Party, and only a propaganda tool to mislead the Chinese public on its false promises.[57]
In May 2017, Alibaba signed a memorandum with the Supreme People's Procuratorate's Anti-Corruption Bureau "to create a clean, credible, rule-of-law market environment."[58]:77 Pursuant to the memorandum, the Bureau provides Alibaba and Ant Group with access to criminal records from bribery cases and Alibaba and Ant Group query those records including during verification of Taobao sellers and in connection with anti-money laundering initiatives and financial risk controls.[58]:77
A December 2020 article in Foreign Policy suggested that decades of corruption inside of the CCP had created vulnerabilities exploited by outside intelligence agencies, particularly the American Central Intelligence Agency. CCP purges under the guise of anti-corruption were at least partially motivated by counterintelligence concerns.[59]
Political incentives for cracking down
Prominent anti-corruption cases in China are often an outgrowth of factional struggles for power in the CCP, as opponents use the "war of corruption" as a weapon against rivals in the CCP or corporate world.[56][60] Often, too, the central leadership's goal in cracking down on corruption is to send a message to those who step over some "unknown acceptable level of graft" or too obviously flaunt its benefits. Another reason is to show an angry public that the CCP is doing something about the problem.[56]
In many such cases, the origins of anti-corruption measures are a mystery. When Chen Liangyu was ousted, analysts said it was because he lost a power struggle with leaders in Beijing. Chen was Shanghai's party secretary and member of the CCP Politburo.[56] In 2010, a re-release of the Chinese Communist Party 52 code of ethics was published.
The strict controls placed on the media by the Chinese government limit the discovery and reporting of corruption in China. Nevertheless, there have been cases of whistleblowers publicising corruption in China, such as Guo Wengui.[64]
Notes
↑ Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, and Vietnam
Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) became more influential economically in the 1990s and 2000s and was beginning to be widely recognized as an emerging superpower. In 2010, China became the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and became the largest economy since 2014 measured by GDP PPP surpassing the United States which previously held that position. At the same time, numerous social problems emerged and intensified. As CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin, Congress Chairman Li Peng and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, gradually retired from their position of power, "fourth-generation" leaders, led by CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, faced with increasing social unrest, attempted to steer the country towards a new direction. From the path of focusing solely on economic development, Hu and Wen placed focus on creating an overall balance under the idea of the Scientific Outlook on Development to create a socialist harmonious society.
The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's congresses. This system is based on the principle of unified state power, in which the legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), is constitutionally enshrined as "the highest state organ of power." As China's political system has no separation of powers, there is only one branch of government which is represented by the legislature. The CCP through the NPC enacts unified leadership, which requires that all state organs, from the Supreme People's Court to the President of China, are elected by, answerable to, and have no separate powers than those granted to them by the NPC. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in all state bodies through a two-thirds majority in the NPC. The remaining seats are held by nominally independent delegates and eight minor political parties, which are non-oppositional and support the CCP. All government bodies and state-owned enterprises have internal CCP committees that lead the decision-making in these institutions.
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities like bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement, as well as practices that are legal in many countries, such as lobbying. Political corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain.
The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as Zhongyang Zhengfawei in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responsible for "political and legal affairs". Based on the principles of Leninism and democratic centralism, the organization acts as the overseer and coordinator of all legal enforcement authorities, including the Ministries of State Security, Public Security and Justice, as well as the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate. All provincial, municipal, county and autonomous region CCP committees have their own political and legal affairs commissions.
Su Rong is a former senior regional official and politician in China. He began his career in his native Jilin, and successively served as Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Qinghai, Gansu, and Jiangxi provinces. In March 2013, he became one of the vice-chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Corruption in Georgia had been an issue in the post-Soviet decades. Before the 2003 Rose Revolution, according to Foreign Policy, Georgia was among the most corrupt nations in Eurasia. The level of corruption abated dramatically, however, after the revolution. In 2010, Transparency International (TI) said that Georgia was "the best corruption-buster in the world." While low-level corruption had earlier been largely eliminated, Transparency International Georgia since 2020 has also documented dozens of cases of high-level corruption that remain to be prosecuted.
Corruption in Vietnam is pervasive and widespread, due to weak legal infrastructure, financial unpredictability, and conflicting and negative bureaucratic decision-making. Surveys from 2015 revealed that while petty corruption decreased slightly throughout the country, high-level corruption significantly increased as a means of abuse of political power in Vietnam. Corruption is a very significant problem in Vietnam, impacting all aspects of administration, education and law enforcement.
Ling Zhengce is a former Chinese politician from Shanxi province. From 2008 to 2014 Ling served as the vice-chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and prior to that the director of Shanxi Development and Reform Commission. Alongside Ling Jihua, he was removed from office in 2014 and charged with corruption, bribery, and graft. Ling Zhengce was then sentenced to 12+1⁄2 years in prison.
A far-reaching anti-corruption campaign began in China following the conclusion of the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012. The campaign, carried out under the aegis of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, was the largest organized anti-corruption effort in the history of CCP rule in China.
Anti-corruption comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measures is sometimes drawn. In such framework, investigative authorities and their attempts to unveil corrupt practices would be considered reactive, while education on the negative impact of corruption, or firm-internal compliance programs are classified as the former.
Qian Yin'an is a Chinese politician who spent his entire career in his home-province Shaanxi. He entered the workforce in August 1983, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in March 1987. He was investigated by the Chinese Communist Party's anti-graft agency in November 2018. Previously he served as Secretary General of the CCP Shaanxi Provincial Committee. He is the second Standing Committee member of the CCP Provincial Committee caught after the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
Zhang Qi is a former Chinese politician who spent most of his career in Hainan province. He was investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, the highest anti-corruption agency of China, in September 2019. Previously he served as Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Haikou, capital of Hainan province. Zhang is the first senior official who was placed under investigation in Hainan since the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in late 2017 and the fourth incumbent provincial level official was sacked for graft since then.
Sun Lijun is a former Chinese politician and police officer. He was investigated by the Chinese Communist Party's anti-graft agency in April 2020 and was given the death sentence with reprieve for bribery and corruption in September 2022. Sun Lijun was affiliated with a group of other corrupt officials associated with Jiang Zemin.
Ren Hua is a former Chinese politician who spent her entire career in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. As of June 2020 she was under investigation by the Communist Party's anti-corruption agency. Previously she served as vice-chairwoman of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Her superiors, Li Zhi and Nur Bekri, both were sacked for graft in 2015 and 2019, respectively. Ren is the first senior official in Xinjiang and the fifth senior official in China to be targeted by China's top anticorruption watchdog in 2020. She is also the fifth female ministerial level official in China caught since Xi Jinping's continues an anti-graft dragnet at all levels of government, military and ruling Communist Party.
Dong Hong is a former Chinese politician. He was investigated by China's top anti-graft agency in October 2020. He was a senior disciplinary inspector under Wang Qishan until 2017, when Wang was chief of China's top anti-corruption agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
Liu Hongwu is a former Chinese politician who spent his entire career in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In January 2022, he was investigated by China's top anti-graft agency. Previously he served as vice chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In May 2023, Liu Hongwu was charged with bribery and abuse of power.
Yu Luming is a former Chinese politician. In April 2022, Yu was investigated by China's top anti-corruption agency, and in March 2023, Yu Luming was charged with bribery.
Ji Binchang is a former Chinese executive and politician. He was investigated by China's top anti-graft agency in January 2023. Previously he served as chairman of the Qingdao Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and before that, vice governor of Shandong.
Corruption in Taiwan is noted for significant anti-corruption strides. Out of 180 countries, Taiwan, or the Republic of China, ranked 28th in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in 2023. Key issues needing improvements include graft, bribery, and unethical practices.
↑ Wang, P. (2013). The rise of the Red Mafia in China: a case study of organised crime and corruption in Chongqing. Trends in Organized crime, 16(1), 49-73.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Michael Johnston, "Corruption in China: Old Ways, New Realities and a Troubled Future", United Nations Public Administration Network. Retrieved January 29, 2010
↑ "Xi Jinping is struggling to stamp out graft in the PLA". The Economist. 11 January 2024. ISSN0013-0613. Archived from the original on 2024-01-12. Retrieved 2024-01-12. When Mr Xi took power in 2012, the armed forces were rife with corruption. Senior military posts were being sold for hefty sums. They were worth it: holders could rake in money, such as by taking bribes from military contractors or doing deals with private businesses involving pla land.
↑ "China, The Trafficking Situation". United Nations Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT). Archived from the original on 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
↑ Becker, Jeffrey (2008-10-01). "Tackling Corruption at its Source: The National Corruption Prevention Bureau". Journal of Chinese Political Science. 13 (3): 287–303. doi:10.1007/s11366-008-9028-4. ISSN1080-6954. S2CID154952172.
↑ Wang, Peng (2013). "The rise of the Red Mafia in China: a case study of organised crime and corruption in Chongqing". Trends in Organized Crime. 16 (1): 49–73. doi:10.1007/s12117-012-9179-8. S2CID143858155.
↑ Michael Forsythe and Alexandra Stevenson (May 30, 2017). "The Billionaire Gadfly in Exile Who Stared Down Beijing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 21, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017. The biggest political story in China this year isn't in Beijing. It isn't even in China. It's centered at a $68 million apartment overlooking Central Park in Manhattan.
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