China's top graft buster attacks 'unhealthy' political culture

[webfact]

China's top graft buster attacks 'unhealthy' political culture

 

FILE PHOTO: China's Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Qishan, the head of China's anti-corruption watchdog, stands next to a Chinese flag during a medal ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Victory of Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, for World War Two veterans, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, September 2, 2015. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top graft-buster launched a scathing attack on the ruling Communist Party's members on Monday, writing that party political culture remained "unhealthy" and governance weak even after five years of renewed effort to fight the problem.

 

The comments by Wang Qishan, who runs the party's anti-corruption watchdog, came after sources said a senior official who was considered a contender for promotion at autumn's key party congress is being investigated for "discipline violations".

 

Wang said the routine anti-graft inspections that have begun since President Xi Jinping took office five years ago always discovered the same problems.

 

"All of the issues discovered during the inspections reflect the weakening of party leadership, shortcomings in party building and insufficient efforts to strictly enforce party discipline," Wang wrote in the party's official People's Daily.

 

"Party concepts are faint, organisation is lax and discipline flabby. The root is in the party's internal political life being not serious and unhealthy," he said.

 

Xi's crackdown on corruption has seen dozens of senior officials jailed, reaching right into the upper echelons of the party. Xi has warned, like others before him, that the problem is so serious it could affect the party's grip on power.

 

The party has declared that its campaign against corruption will never end.

 

The crackdown has not just been focused on issues like bribery and using public money to fund lavish lifestyles. It has also taken aim at those whose political loyalty is found lacking or who express doubt in public about party policies.

 

Wang said some party members practised "political nihilism", casting aside their beliefs, while others were guilty of "phoney politics", seeing the word of the leadership as nothing more than slogans.

 

The party has long said it alone can deal with corruption, dismissing any calls for an independent body separate from the party to tackle the issue.

 

"If you leave the leadership of the party, inspections cannot play such an important role and achieve such obvious results," Wang wrote.

 

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-17

[impulse]

Soon to be the former top graft buster...

 

[observer90210]

China is far worse as the "tea money" over there is nothing less then a brand new Rolex!!!

[jaggiss]

It's the same here in oz,same everywhere, just better hidden.
Here our pollies call it political donation. Brown paper bags full of money (probably black) from Chinese government companies


Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Morch]

2 hours ago, jaggiss said:

It's the same here in oz,same everywhere, just better hidden.
Here our pollies call it political donation. Brown paper bags full of money (probably black) from Chinese government companies


Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

No, it isn't "the same".

For example, The PRC was ranked 79 on the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2016. Australia was ranked 13.

[jaggiss]

Really, that makes me feel better

Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Morch]

19 minutes ago, car720 said:

the wrong analogy though.  Consider 1.5 billion corrupt Chinese and 25 million corrupt Australians.  At least the corruption in China is honest and available, just like Thailand.   In Australia you have to be part of an elite group to have access to the corruption.

 

What makes you think that the Chinese do not have elites?

[Morch]

1 hour ago, car720 said:

They probably have more elites than any other country on earth but my point was that the corruption there is not only available to the elites but to the commoner as well.

 

Not sure how's that meant. A lowly official engaging in some localized corruption is not quite the issue here, and anyway could be said to represent the country's troubles on this front (or indeed, to be a byproduct of the system).

 

 

[Thakkar]

16 hours ago, car720 said:

the wrong analogy though.  Consider 1.5 billion corrupt Chinese and 25 million corrupt Australians.  At least the corruption in China is honest and available, just like Thailand.   In Australia you have to be part of an elite group to have access to the corruption.

 

What an odd notion: the democratization of corruption.

 

The idea of corruption is to buy one's way to a shorter queue. The more money you "invest" the closer you get to the head of the queue.

 

Then there's the other side of the transaction: officials—both low and high—DEMANDING payment to not just give you a leg up, but simply to do their jobs so that even if you're not looking for a leg up, you need to pay to get that driving license.

 

Something for Australia to aspire to, I guess.

 

T

[Thakkar]

29 minutes ago, car720 said:

Well put.  The democratization of corruption.  Precisely.

My thought is that if the top 3% of the world own 95% of the wealth then it is my presumption that they did not get it without graft.  I just feel that the little guy deserves a roll of the dice as well.

I was being sarcastic. Graft actually has the opposit effect to what you claim. You will find that the more graft, the wider the income disparity. 

 

T

[William C F Pierce]

The country has a high level of debt. Where there is debt in any country. Corruption usually follows; because of human nature being what it is. The world is not full of pius honest religeous people.

[ilostmypassword]

50 minutes ago, William C F Pierce said:

The country has a high level of debt. Where there is debt in any country. Corruption usually follows; because of human nature being what it is. The world is not full of pius honest religeous people.

In fact, there is virtually no relationship between national debts and corruption. Finland has a national debt that is 64 percent of GDP.  Russia's is 17 percent. Indonesia's is 27. Japan's is 250 percent. Just look up transparency international's ratings of corruption in these nations. Try again.

 

[YetAnother]

On 7/17/2017 at 10:55 AM, webfact said:

The party has declared that its campaign against corruption will never end.

looks to be an impasse; likewise,corruption will never end

[William C F Pierce]

On 2017-7-20 at 2:02 AM, ilostmypassword said:

In fact, there is virtually no relationship between national debts and corruption. Finland has a national debt that is 64 percent of GDP.  Russia's is 17 percent. Indonesia's is 27. Japan's is 250 percent. Just look up transparency international's ratings of corruption in these nations. Try again.

 

Except for indigenous primitive populations name an industrialised country that has no debt and no corruption.

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, William C F Pierce said:

Except for indigenous primitive populations name an industrialised country that has no debt and no corruption.

"The country has a high level of debt. Where there is debt in any country. Corruption usually follows; because of human nature being what it is. The world is not full of pius honest religeous people."

This is your quote, right? You are the one who posited a relation between debt and corruption. I just pointed that many highly indebted countries are a lot less corrupt than some with low debt.

[William C F Pierce]

On 21/07/2017 at 6:01 PM, ilostmypassword said:

"The country has a high level of debt. Where there is debt in any country. Corruption usually follows; because of human nature being what it is. The world is not full of pius honest religeous people."

This is your quote, right? You are the one who posited a relation between debt and corruption. I just pointed that many highly indebted countries are a lot less corrupt than some with low debt.

 

On 21/07/2017 at 6:01 PM, ilostmypassword said:

 

Reread what I said. Name one that doesn't. I did not say anything about which country has the most or smallest corruption.