Against consensus: China’s economy in 2019 might be okay
Posted: January 24, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Chinese economy, economic growth, Wang Qishan 5 Comments
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan speaks at World Economic Forum. SubChina’s photo
Jeremy Goldkorn January 23, 2019
Speaking to the gathered worthies of Davos, China’s Vice President Wáng Qíshān 王岐山 today expressed confidence in China’s economy. Reuters reports:
“There will be a lot of uncertainties in 2019, but China’s economy will continue to achieve sustainable growth,” Wang told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Speed does matter. But what really matters is the quality and efficiency of our economic development,” he said.
China does not see its economic expansionary cycle coming to an end, Wang added, seeking to dispel market concerns that faltering domestic demand and bruising U.S. tariffs could spark a major slowdown ahead.
Well, Wang would say that, wouldn’t he? But I’ve recently heard similar views from a number of people who tend not to be wrong. Today’s news brought some other reasons you may want to reconsider joining the growing consensus that China’s economy is headed for gloom and doom:
•Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble posted quarterly results: There was no slowdown in China. CFO Jon Moeller said that “the company is ‘fairly confident’ about growth in China in the following quarter,” according to CNBC.
•“Yes, China’s 6.6 percent growth in 2018 is its slowest in nearly 3 decades,” tweeted Economist correspondent Simon Rabinovitch. “But given the size of its economy, that represents about $1.2 trillion of additional demand, nearly twice as much as it generated with 14 percent growth in 2007.”
•The government is taking action — from stimulus spending to monetary policies and tax cuts. (Caixin has a roundup of problems with the economy and government measures to tackle them.)
•“Still the world’s best consumer story.” This is what Investment Strategist for Matthews Asia Andy Rothman is still calling China.
Source: SubChina “Against consensus: China’s economy in 2019 might be okay”
Note: This is SubChina’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
CCP’s New Guiding Ideology—Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
Posted: October 20, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: CCP, China, Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping, Xi Jinping Thought, Yu Zhengsheng, Zhang Dejiang, Zhang Gaoli 1 CommentCCP (Chinese Communist Party) will amend its constitution to add Xi Jinping Though on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to CCP’s list of guiding ideologies: Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development.
The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era appears repeatedly in Xi Jinping’s three and a half hours’ speech but without his name Xi Jinping placed before it.
In CCTV’s prime time news the day before yesterday on Xi attending a panel discussion of Xi’s speech, the report shows Xi talking about the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics but does not mention the thought. It also shows others speaking about their impression of Xi’s speech.
However, the reports on other members of CCP Politburo Standing Committee members Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng and Liu Yunshan attending panel discussions the day before yesterday and Li Keqiang, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, yesterday only provide those members speeches about Xi’s speech especially the greatness of the thought without providing what any others spoke. In addition, all of them put Xi Jinping before “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” to indicate such thought is Xi Jinping’s.
The following are photos taken from CCTV prime time news footages of the six CCP Politburo Standing Committee members Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli speaking at separate panel discussions on greatness of Xi Jinping Thought:
We have seen quite a few titles of Xi in Chinese official media: leader, commander, core, etc. but with Xi Jinping Thought, he will perhaps have the additional titles of helmsman and teacher. Whether there will be the adjective “great” before such titles I do not know, but I am certain the title of teacher fits him.
As for the title of helmsman, it was the title Lin Biao gave Mao. Lin was ignorant that in modern times, a ship is navigated by the captain and his top assistants instead of the helmsman, who but operates the helm at the captain’s order. Navigator must be a better title.
Comment by Chan Kai Yee on CCTV prime time news on CCP 19th Congress.
China moves to strengthen ties with Singapore
Posted: September 21, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ASEAN, China, Lee Hsien Loong, Li Keqiang, Singapore, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping, Zhang Dejiang 1 Comment“Will do our best to bring Asean and China closer together,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong 李显龙 wrote in a Facebook post following a meeting with China’s premier, Li Keqiang 李克强, on September 19. The sentiment to increase cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — which Singapore will rotate in to lead next year — and China likely delighted Beijing, which has long viewed the city-state as an important but troublesome partner. Singapore, being three-quarters ethnically Chinese, is important to China as a gateway to Southeast Asia, but distrusted by Communist Party hardliners for its closeness to Taiwan and the United States — see here for a chart explaining the variety of Chinese views on Singapore.
On September 20, the top headlines on central state media outlets Xinhua (in Chinese, in English) and People’s Daily (in Chinese, in English) were about Lee’s meeting with a visibly buoyant President Xi Jinping. But as Bloomberg reports, it wasn’t just the president and his premier, it was all his men, too: Lee met with two more of the seven most powerful men in China, national legislature chief Zhang Dejiang 张德江 and anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan 王岐山 — a meeting that came as a “surprise to many China watchers and apparently even to Wang himself,” the South China Morning Post reports.
What are Singapore and China doing together, other than exchanging friendly bromides? SCMP has the relevant roundup:
•China is trying to get Singapore to have a Chinese company build the planned $14 billion, 350-kilometer (217-mile) high-speed rail line from Singapore to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, expected to be completed in 2026.
•Both countries are implementing the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative, a package of financial services, transportation, logistics, and communications services that aims to improve connectivity between Chongqing and Southeast Asia.
•Chinese property developers have flocked to Singapore, as the city-state accounts for more than 15 percent of their outbound investment.
•Trade has flourished, growing 60 percent since 2009 to $85 billion last year, and the countries are currently negotiating an update to their bilateral free trade agreement. China has been Singapore’s top trading partner since 2013.
Source: SupChina “China moves to strengthen ties with Singapore”
Note: This is SupChina’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
Power Struggle, The Excuse to Oppose Xi’s Anti-corruption Campaign
Posted: April 27, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anti-corruption campaign, China, faction politics, power struggle, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping 2 Comments
Wang Qishan, China’s chief corruption buster who has the largest number of strong enemies in the world. Photo: Reuters
Elimination of widespread rampant corruption needs an exceptionally wise, brave and powerful leader. The leader shall be very clearly aware of the great danger in the job. Officials exploit their power to commit corruption so that the greater the power, the more serious the corruption. Therefore, the “tigers” Xi has to catch in his fight against corruption are real tigers with sharp teeth. They are able to assassinate high officials in charge of the fight or even the leader. They may even launch a coup d’état.
However, they know the risk of the assassination and coup especially when the leader controls China’s secret police; therefore, the best way for them is to spread the rumor that the real purpose of the fight against corruption is to remove or weaken the factions not controlled by the leader so as to establish the leader’s absolute power.
It is common that there are various factions in a communist party, but especially in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after Mao’s Cultural Revolution because those who were in a faction with substantial strength suffered less persecution and regained their positions sooner during and after the Cultural Revolution.
Usually, a high-ranking official appoints and promotes quite some officials. Those officials together with the officials they appointed and promoted form a faction due to comradeship, friendship and common interests and aspiration. When the high-ranking official has retired, he still controls the faction formed due to his influence and will interfere for the interests of his faction whenever possible if necessary.
When it comes to the decisions at a Party Congress on candidates for members of Central Committee, Politburo and its Standing Committee, Central Military Commissions and Party Secretariat and other senior posts, all the retired elders who have been dormant, will come out to take part in the bargaining behind the scene because it affects the balance of strength among various factions and concerns the interest of not only themselves but also the large number of their faction members.
The removal of a high official in a faction due to corruption may greatly weaken the faction; therefore, it will certainly vigorously resist and demand a lenient punishment or even immunity. Other factions will mostly side with the guilty official’s faction for fear that it was the leader or the anti-corruption official’s power struggle trick to weaken the factions they do not control one by one. The resistance of the alliance of those factions may become quite strong especially when it is joined by the quite strong conservative faction built up by Bo Xilai through his anti-organized crime and sing-red campaigns. That was also the cause for the difficulties in making the decision to punish Bo Xilai harshly. The decision had not been made until Jiang Zemin came to Beijing to preside over an expanded Politburo meeting on September 27, 2012.
Power struggle is corrupt officials’ best excuse in opposing Xi’s fight against corruption!
In order to succeed in his fight against corruption and for further reform, Xi visited all the powerful elders who were heads of various factions and convinced them that what he did was to save CCP instead of enabling his own faction to have dominant power over all other factions. He even showed them that he had no faction of his own and told them he would have an official with little factional background to be in charge of the fight against corruption.
His choice of Wang Qishan convinced them. Wang’s father-in-law Yao Yilin was for a time a Politburo Standing Committee member, but Yao was in charge of economy. Wang himself, though promoted by Zhu Rongji of Jiang Zemin’s Shanghai faction, was employed as high economic officials. Economic officials usually have little political power in CCP.
Wang seems powerful in having investigated and punished powerful officials including a retired Politburo Standing Committee member and two retired top generals, but his power comes from Xi Jinping and CCP organization. He has no troops or police under his personal control to achieve his personal goal.
Some people may wonder: How can a leader rule a party full of factions without forming his own powerful faction?
In Chinese history, forming his own faction and making it the only powerful faction was a common trap for a sovereign. It may easily cause the sovereign to be surrounded by a faction of treacherous fawning protégés who, like Heshen, corrupted Emperor Qianlong’s entire official system and blocked the channels for informers to expose their evils.
A wise sovereign shall have charisma to attract all talents around him no matter what factions they belong to. He is even able to win over talents from his enemy and make them his faithful followers. A great leader’s greatness lies first of all in his ability to discover and properly employ and delegate power to talented followers. Xi has proved his wisdom in dealing with domestic and external issues, but we still have to wait and see whether he is able to fill his Politburo Standing Committee with talents and find a competent successor.
Whether with the excuse of opposing power struggle or not, the large number of corrupt official may refuse to function like the officials did under Emperor Jiaqing’s reign or even begin national protests like Hong Kong police did against Governor MacLehose’ anti-corruption campaign.
What shall Xi Jinping do?
He gave people a huge surprise, which is a long story to be elaborated in my next article.
Article by Chan Kai Yee
The Chinese Communist Party graft-buster’s big shot at a lasting legacy
Posted: October 24, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Chinese Communist Party, graft prevention rules, internal party regulations, Wang Qishan Comments Off on The Chinese Communist Party graft-buster’s big shot at a lasting legacyWang Qishan, the head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, during the opening session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing in March. Photo: Reuters
Key party meeting to consider two sets of internal party regulations spearheaded by Wang Qishan. But how long will they last after he steps down?
After heading a ferocious national anti-corruption campaign for four years, the Communist Party’s top graft-buster will see one of his final legacies for this term laid down at a key gathering that starts in Beijing on Monday.
The four-day plenum of the party’s Central Committee, a meeting of 200-plus members and roughly 170 alternate members, is expected to endorse two important internal party regulations governing the conduct of its members.
Those regulations were driven by Wang Qishan, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party body charged with keeping members in line.
Wang has overseen the netting of thousands of corrupt cadres and more than 100 high-ranking officials. Among the fallen are former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang, who was in charge of the nation’s security apparatus, and two former vice-chairmen of the powerful Central Military Commission.
Wang, a key ally of President Xi Jinping, will be 69 when the party carries out a major leadership reshuffle late next year and is expected to step down from the Politburo Standing Committee, assuming the informal retirement age of 68 still holds – which is far from certain according to some China-watchers.
Regardless of whether he retires, the Central Committee plenum this week will probably be Wang’s most important appearance before his present five-year term ends.
State media said the gathering would discuss the two sets of regulations, one spelling out guiding principles for political life within the party “under new circumstances”, and the other revising a trial regulation on party internal supervision.
Together, the rules lay out a system for conduct that would steer the party away from its piecemeal approach to enforcing discipline.
The guiding principles, which are the second from the top in the hierarchy of party laws and regulations and are subordinate only to the party’s constitution, are aimed at senior officials, particularly members of the Central Committee, Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee.
A version of the principles was formulated in 1980 during the Deng Xiaoping era to prevent a recurrence of the “extremely abnormal political life” of the Cultural Revolution.
Drafted by liberal-minded leader Hu Yaobang at the dawn of the reform era, the resolution spelled out its opposition to “rule by the voice of one man alone” or a “patriarchal system”.
It also encouraged internal democracy in the party and barred members from showing loyalty to any one person.
The new code would focus more on tightening control of power and centralising authority, analysts said.
“It will take a more authoritarian approach and emphasise toeing the central leadership’s line, not allowing the existence of opposing voices,” Chen Daoyin, an associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said.
Meanwhile, the proposed changes to regulations on party internal supervision are an effort to update rules first passed in 2003.
Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of Peking University’s Clean Government Centre, said the drafting of both documents would be “coordinated by the CCDI with relevant departments participating”.
Zhuang said passage of the two sets of regulations would signal that a largely complete institutional system for “strictly governing the party” – one of the four slogans hailed in Xi’s “four comprehensives” political theory – had been established.
“Lower-level regulations and rules will still be made afterwards, but not at such a high level any more,” he said.
“Wang has built a good overall framework for anti-corruption work. Even if he retires, his political legacy from his tenure at the CCDI should continue to apply.”
But Chen questioned how long the system or framework would hold after both Wang and Xi stepped down.
“Chinese politics has a tradition: when a man dies his administration will be cast away. Many internal laws and regulations of the party were set up after 1989 – one stricter than another – but as new leaders replaced the old, many rules were cast aside without any public announcement of their abolishment,” he said.
“China has not yet escaped the vicious cycle of strongman politics. When the next leader comes into power, if he lacks the power and strength of his predecessor, his authority will decline and the systems will no longer be effective,” he said.
Chen said the biggest problem of the party’s anti-graft system was its lack of external supervision and public involvement.
Source: SCMP “ The Chinese Communist Party graft-buster’s big shot at a lasting legacy”
Note: This is SCMP’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
No Easing of China’s Anti-corruption Storm
Posted: May 4, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anti-corruption storm, China, corrupt PLA officers, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping 1 CommentChina’s official corruption is an inveterate chronic disease very difficult to cure.
Even with the power of absolute monarchy, honest and clever emperors such as Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty and Emperors Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty were unable to deal with it in spite of the heavy punishment they meted out.
Current Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, knows that there must the fierce and widespread vigor like a severe storm to sweep away such a malpractice and that he has to make lasting efforts for decades and be relentless in fighting against not only corruption but also extravagance, which induces corruption and is pursued by corrupt officials.
Xi launched his anti-corruption storm in September 2013. More than one and a half years have passed, but there has been no relaxation whatever of his efforts to fight corruption. On the contrary, he even extends the fight abroad. SCMP revealed that on March 18 in its report titled “China sheds light on its quest to track down fleeing officials”.
On March 25, Reuters says in its report “China gives ‘priority list’ of wanted officials to U.S.”, “China has provided a ‘priority’ list to the United States of Chinese officials who are suspected of corruption and are believed to have fled to the U.S., a top state-run newspaper said on Wednesday.”
Later on April 11, Reuters says, “The United States has promised support for China’s campaign to hunt corrupt officials fleeing abroad, the official Xinhua news agency reported late Friday, after meetings between security officials from the world’s two largest economies.”
China employs young and well-educated staff to hunt down such corrupt officials. Reuters says in a separate report later, “China’s team charged with hunting down officials suspected of corruption who have fled overseas is aged 30 on average, speaks foreign languages and is well educated, a Chinese official said, giving rare details of a secretive operation.”
In addition to seeking help from specific countries such as the United States, China also tries to track down through Interpol the corrupt officials who have fled abroad.
Reuters says in its report “China’s Interpol office issues list of economic fugitives: graft watchdog” on April 22, “China’s Interpol office has released a list of 100 wanted economic fugitives, the ruling Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog said on Wednesday, as the government deepens its fight against suspected corrupt officials who have fled overseas.”
Moreover, a hundred corrupt officers have recently been found in Chinese military. China’s official mil.huanqiu.com revealed that in the 102 days from January 15 to April 26, 33 corrupt officers were found in Chinese military including three above army level.
To tighten discipline, on May 1, China’s top graft buster the Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission posted an order in its website forbidding officials from holding meeting in 21 top Chinese tourist sites including
Reuters says in its report, “The sites include the Badaling sector of the Great Wall outside of Beijing, the old summer residence of the Qing emperors at Chengde and the beach resort of Sanya, which China likes to style its answer to Hawaii or Bali.”
At the beginning, quite a few officials said that it was but new blooms sweeping clean. They have but to be patient to wait for the storm to calm down, but they have now realized that the storm grows stronger instead of calming down. Some officials even try to switch to jobs in private enterprises as the gray income from their posts have greatly decreased.
Source: Reuters “China gives ‘priority list’ of wanted officials to U.S.”, “China says U.S. backs its campaign to hunt down ‘economic fugitives’”, “China says using young, educated anti-graft officials as ‘fox hunters’”, “China’s Interpol office issues list of economic fugitives: graft watchdog” and “No meetings at tourist hotspots, China reminds officials”
Full texts of the Reuters reports can be viewed at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/25/us-china-corruption-usa-idUSKBN0ML08N20150325
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/11/us-china-usa-corruption-idUSKBN0N20AI20150411
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/18/us-china-corruption-idUSKBN0N909U20150418
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/22/us-china-corruption-idUSKBN0ND19L20150422
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/01/us-china-corruption-tourism-idUSKBN0NM3CW20150501
Source: mil.huanqiu.com “PLA Stroke 33 tigers with focus on joint logistic departments and provincial military commands” and “Chinese military publishes details of major corruption cases of three cadres above army level” (summary by Chan Kai Yee based on the reports in Chinese)
No Worry about China’s Rise if US Gets Its House in Order – Paulson
Posted: April 17, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bo Xilai, China, China’s reform, Jiang Zemin, Obama, Paulson, Sino-US relations, US, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping, Zhou Xiaochuan, Zhou Yongkang 4 Comments
Paulson meets Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. AFP/Getty Images
You should be less worried about whether China will overtake us than what we’re going to do [in the United States]. Because if we do the things we need to do to get our house in order and fix our economic problems and restore our economy, we’re going to be the preeminent power for a long time. And if we don’t, we won’t.
Former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson
The above is US media Foreign Policy’s quote of Paulson’s advice on US maintaining its no. 1 position.
The media carried a report titled “Xi Jinping’s Problems Are ‘Monumental’” on Paulson’s new book, especially his views on China and its leaders. Due to his experience in doing lots of work along with Chinese leaders when he was first an international banker and then US treasury secretary, Paulson has profound insight in understanding China.
He sees Chinese President Xi Jinping’s charisma as a leader in describing Xi as “a big presence who lit up a room.”
The report quotes Paulson as saying, “I can’t think of a leader in history that is attempting to change so much for so many people on such a massive scale as Xi. He’s got the economy to reboot, he’s got an urbanization model to reboot or change, in addition to the environment to clean up, the corruption problem…. You’re talking about really [deep] reforms.”
Paulson reminded the reporter in the report: While Xi “doesn’t want our values or our form of government,” it’s also true that the problems Xi is “dealing with are very significant; they’re monumental.”
Paulson described how China learnt from the US, which enabled China to rise so drastically.
He believes that the US has to help Xi Jinping’s reform which will benefit the US.
For example, the controversial U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). He regards it as a possible agreement to liberalize mutual investment and further open China’s economy to Western competition. The report quotes him as saying, “I’m very positive about the progress so far.” “I think that the Chinese side has crossed a big threshold with their willingness to provide a negative list which essentially says, rather than having to go seek approval for every investment, these are the parts of our economy that are open and these are the parts that aren’t. Now this won’t be easy to get done. And it sure won’t be easy to get done this year. But if this is done properly and it’s a high standard BIT, it can be transformational and help open up more of the Chinese economy to competition and create more opportunities for U.S. businesses and U.S. workers.”
According to Paulson, the US shall support Xi in his reform because the problems Xi is “dealing with are very significant; they’re monumental…” “(I)f he doesn’t (succeed), it’s going to hurt us all.”
Source: Foreign Policy “Xi Jinping’s Problems Are ‘Monumental’”
Full text of the report can be found at https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/16/xi-jinpings-problems-are-monumental-henry-paulson-interview/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=%2AEditors%20Picks&utm_campaign=Russia_Direct_April_Promo_PowerInboxRS4%2F16
Can Xi Jinping Eliminate China’s Centuries-old Inveterate Corruption?
Posted: October 25, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anti-corruption storm, China, corruption, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping 4 Comments
China’s top graft-buster Wang Qishan. Photo: Xinhua
Zhao Kuangying (927-976), the founding emperor of Song Dynasty (960-1279) , ordered all the succeeding emperors to promise by oath to respect intellectuals. As a result, Song emperors themselves received good education and were fond of intellectuals. However, they went too far and put academic and artistic achievements above moral integrity.
There are the following well-known lines in a poem by Emperor Zhenzong of Song (968-1020) to persuade people to study hard:
There is a gold house in books,
There are women as beautiful as jade in books.
The first line is mostly translated into something similar to “There is wealth in books”
due to ignorance of the meaning of the term “gold house”. As a result, it becomes a line to persuade people to study hard for wealth.
In fact, the poem follows Chinese poetic tradition of using old stories and classic passages in poems. “Gold house” refers to the story in Chinese history of Emperor Wudi of Han (157BC-87BC), who loved his cousin Ah Jiao so much that he said he would build a gold house as Ah Jiao’s residence if he was able to get her as his wife. The line means that if one studies hard and becomes well-educated, one will be able to get the girl he loves and make her lead a good life.
However, as that story cannot be found in official history though it was much mentioned in literature. Those who are not familiar with the story regard the “gold house” as wealth.
The pursuit of wealth gradually grew into the following popular formula for intellectuals:
Study to pass the civil service examination;
Obtain official post to get power;
Use power to become rich (how? Through corruption).
It corrupted Chinese intellectuals and gradually made corruption a tradition in Chinese official circles.
That is why I point out in my book Tiananmen’s Tremendous Achievements that China declined due to degeneration of its intellectuals. It was the reason why Song Dynasty was conquered by Mogolians. Corruption was even more serious in later dynasties. I describe it in the following passages in my book:
Corruption rose to the zenith in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and caused peasants’ uprisings all over the nation. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), was one of the leaders of the uprisings. He lived among the poor when he was young and hated corruption bitterly.
During his reign, due to his hatred, he killed lots of corrupt officials including some of his close advisers who had helped him defeat other uprising leaders and establish his dynasty. He was frustrated that it just seemed impossible to eliminate corruption in spite of his extensive killings.
Throughout his dynasty, corruption remained a serious problem.
The situation was not better in Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). The reign of Emperor Qianlong (1735-1795) was regarded as quite a prosperous period in Chinese history. However, Qianlong’s close courtier He Shen accumulated an enormous fortune of 900 million catties (a catty is a little heavier than an ounce) of silver by various corrupt means. That was an unprecedented amount of wealth because at that time, there were usually 20 million catties of silver in the emperor’s exchequer.
The three emperors Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng (ruling China from 1796 to 1861) after Qianlong were not stupid. On the contrary, their IQs were not low and they were well-educated. They knew well the problem of corruption and tried quite a few ways to deal with the problem. However, in spite of their hard efforts and severe punishment of corruption found, corruption remained rampant. Some people look down on their ability of governance due to their failure in resisting foreign invasions. That was because their conservatism and ignorance of the world situation. They did not understand that China lagged far behind the outside world and had to make great efforts to catch up.
Their reigns would not have been so poor if there had not been foreign aggression.
Under the rule of later autocrats, corruption was even worse until the Communist takeover. At the beginning, Mao’s campaign against corruption was quite successful and corruption seemed to have been eliminated. That was because at that time the communist officials had not forgotten the ideal for a better China when they joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Mao’s power struggle that uses class struggle as excuse to persecute not only his enemy but also victims who were not even interested in politics, turned the entire China into a game ground for power and caused most people to be corrupted by power. Abuse of power for personal gains is a natural result. That is why I describe in my book that corruption was Mao’s legacy instead the alleged spiritual pollution from the West after China opened to the outside world.
Now corruption is so rampant that only an exceptionally wise and capable leader can eliminate it. Xi Jinping is strong enough to deal with it but he has to have a capable assistant. Wang Qishan is a rare talented assistant, but he will retire in late 2017.
He certainly fears that there is no competent official to carry on his fight; therefore, he is quoted by Reuters as saying, “This is just the beginning” and “consistency, intensified supervision, discipline and accountability” are required.
On Oct. 24, China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying that the campaign for clean government “will never be concluded”.
The following is the full text of Reuters report:
China’s top graft-buster says fight will never end
China’s fight against deeply ingrained corruption will never end, the top official in charge of tackling graft said before a meeting intended to clean up business in the world’s second-largest economy.
Since President Xi Jinping launched his high-profile campaign against corruption upon assuming office last year, senior officials including powerful former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang have been removed from their posts and put under investigation.
“All these efforts have gained the support of the general public,” said Wang Qishan, who heads the ruling Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
“This is just the beginning,” he said, adding that the party’s anti-graft campaign requires “consistency, intensified supervision, discipline and accountability”.
The campaign for clean government “will never be concluded”, Wang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency late on Friday.
Wang made the comments while talking with overseas members of the advisory board of the School of Economics and Management at Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University, Xinhua said.
“A clean government and a healthy and fair market offers the best soft environment for investment,” it paraphrased Wang as saying.
At the graft watchdog’s annual plenum held on Saturday, Wang said that party members, especially those in leadership roles, need to abide by the rules and put into action the party’s discipline because the anti-corruption drive is tough and complicated.
“The fight against corruption and the construction of a clean government is still ongoing,” a statement posted on the watchdog’s website quoted Wang as saying.
The party’s own plenum ended this week with vague promises to boost the rule of law, but made no mention of the disgraced Zhou.
The party announced in July that it had launched a corruption investigation into Zhou, following months of speculation about his fate, making him the highest-profile victim yet of Xi’s war on graft.
Source: Reuters “China’s top graft-buster says fight will never end”
Related posts
- China: Severe Anti-corruption Storm on the Horizon dated August 31, 2013
- Severe Anti-corruption Typhoon to Sweep Entire China dated November 15, 2013
- Anti-corruption Storm Sweeps the Top dated November 22, 2013
- China widens anti-corruption drive to officials with family abroad dated July 16, 2014
- Dining at Fast Food Restaurant, Xi Jinping’s Way to Fight Corruption dated August 1, 2014
- Chinese General Liu Yuan Fights Corruption as Bravely as Xi Jinping dated August 2, 2014
China’s Xi says fight against graft faces ‘deadlock’ : newspaper
Posted: August 5, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, corruption, power struggle, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping, Zhou Yongkang 5 Comments
China’s President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro (unseen) at Miraflores Palace in Caracas July 20, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Jorge Silva
This blogger has described the danger corruption fighters including Xi Jinping are in in my posts “Dining at Fast Food Restaurant, Xi Jinping’s Way to Fight Corruption” on August 1, 2014 and “Chinese General Liu Yuan Fights Corruption as Bravely as Xi Jinping” on August 2, 2014.
Yesterday, SCMP said in its report titled “State media warn corrupt ‘tigers’ might fight back” that Chinese elite academics warned in their articles on official media about corrupt officials fighting back.
Reuters reports today “Xi Jinping says fight against graft faces ‘deadlock’” confirms my descriptions. The fighting back is a natural outcome of the struggle against corruption. It’s good that Xi knows that and is prepared for dealing with corrupt officials’ conspiracy.
The following is the full text of Reuters report:
China’s Xi says fight against graft faces ‘deadlock’ : newspaper
China’s campaign against graft has hit a deadlock because of resistance from an “army of corruption” and the destiny of the Communist Party is at stake, President Xi Jinping said in a speech to party officials, according to a state newspaper.
As part of his vision for a rejuvenated China, Xi is preaching a return to the austerity of the Communist Party’s early years. A sweeping attack on corruption is at the core of the campaign.
The report in the Changbaishan Daily, an obscure party newspaper in a small city in northeast China, came less than a week after the party announced an investigation into former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of the country’s most influential politicians of the last decade, in a case that has its roots in a party power struggle.
It is unclear when Xi made the speech to party officials, but the Changbaishan Daily said the details of his remarks were revealed to party officials there in a meeting on Friday.
“The two armies of corruption and anti-corruption are in confrontation, and a ‘deadlock’ has appeared,” a party official said on Friday quoting Xi, according to the newspaper which revealed his comments on Monday.
Details of the speech were widely carried by major Chinese news portals on Tuesday.
Xi has pledged to go after “tigers and flies” in rooting out wrongdoing and has warned that popular disillusionment with rampant official graft threatens the Party’s hold on power.
“To fight against corruption, a person’s life and death, personal praise or blame, do not matter,” Xi said in the speech.
“Since the future and destiny of the party and the country have been handed to us, we must take on this responsibility.”
Wang Qishan, secretary of the party’s anti-corruption watchdog, had also urged officials to fall in line with the central leadership in fighting graft, saying it was “a question of stance, and attitude”, the newspaper said.
An article published this month by the People’s Forum, a magazine under the party mouthpiece People’s Daily newspaper, warned against backlashes against the corruption crackdown.
To protect vested interests, corrupt officials would fight back against the campaign, seek protection from higher-up to obstruct investigations, and strike against those comrades who insist on fighting graft, the magazine said.
“As the ‘fighting of tigers’ intensifies, corrupt elements definitely will not sit and await their doom,” said the magazine.
In a separate announcement on Tuesday, the party expelled Yao Mugen, a former vice governor of the eastern Jiangxi province for accepting “a huge amount of bribes”. The top prosecutor said that it has opened a criminal investigation into Yao.
Source: Reuters “China’s Xi says fight against graft faces ‘deadlock’ : newspaper”
Related posts:
- Dining at Fast Food Restaurant, Xi Jinping’s Way to Fight Corruption dated August 1, 2014
- Chinese General Liu Yuan Fights Corruption as Bravely as Xi Jinping” dated August 2, 2014
- Chinese Academics Warn Powerful Corrupt Officials Might Fight Back dated August 6, 2014
China widens anti-corruption drive to officials with family abroad
Posted: July 16, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anti-corruption storm, China, corruption, Mao Xiaobing, Wang Qishan, Xi Jinping, Xu Caihou, Zhang Tianxin, Zhou Yongkang 1 CommentChina’s anti-corruption chief pledged on Wednesday to broaden a crackdown on graft by focusing on officials with family abroad and including the province that was the power base of the former powerful head of domestic security.
The Communist Party leadership under President Xi Jinping has presided over the anti-graft campaign to shore up a ruling mandate shaken by suspicion that officials waste taxpayer money or use their positions for personal advantage.
Since his appointment last year, Xi has said that graft threatens the survival of the ruling party.
Wang Qishan, secretary of its watchdog Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, told investigators to go after “naked officials”, state media said, referring to those who have children or spouses who live abroad.
Wang “urged inspectors to watch closely over corruption in mining, natural resources, land transfers, real estate development, construction projects, public and special funds,” the official Xinhua news agency said.
Xinhua said a second round of inquiries in 10 provinces and regions will include Sichuan, where the former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, who is under virtual house arrest according to Reuters sources, once held the top party post.
At the peak of his influence, Zhou held one of the most powerful positions in China, overseeing the police force, civilian intelligence apparatus, paramilitary People’s Armed Police, judges and prosecutors. The position, deemed too powerful, was downgraded after he retired.
‘MASSIVE WASTE’
Xi, who has pledged to go after powerful “tigers” as well as lowly “flies”, has netted several senior figures in his corruption sweep, including Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.
In the latest development, the party said on Wednesday that it had expelled two more former senior officials for corruption, paving the way for their prosecution.
The anti-corruption watchdog said in brief statements that Mao Xiaobing, former party boss of the western city of Xining, and Zhang Tianxin, former party chief of the southwestern city of Kunming, had “serious discipline problems”.
“The investigation found that Mao Xiaobing took advantage of his post to seek profits for others, demanded and took a huge amount of bribes and committed adultery,” the watchdog said in a statement. The former Kunming official, Zhang, had also abused his official position, with his dereliction of duty causing “a loss of state assets”.
It was not possible to reach either of them for comment.
Communist Party members, especially senior officials, are supposed to be morally upstanding and adultery is considered a serious breach of party discipline.
State media also said that China would phase out official vehicles for uses other than for emergencies or law enforcement by the end of next year.
Last year, the military began replacing licence plates on its cars and trucks to crack down on legions of vehicles, many of them plush luxury brands, which routinely break traffic laws and fill up with free petrol.
“In China, officials above a certain level have usually been provided a driver and car for their work, but many have used the vehicles for private purposes, causing massive waste of public funds and widespread complaints,” Xinhua said in a report.
The government will instead provide appropriate subsidies for civil servants to let them choose their own transport, it added. But this is unlikely to affect the sleek cars which carry Xi and his cabinet members about Beijing, as the rules make provision for “special services”, likely to apply to the most senior officials.
Source: Reuters “China widens anti-corruption drive to officials with family abroad”
Related posts:
- China: Severe Anti-corruption Storm on the Horizon dated August 31, 2013
- Severe Anti-corruption Typhoon to Sweep Entire China dated November 15, 2013
- Anti-corruption Storm Sweeps the Top dated November 22, 2013
- China Anti-corruption Storm Intensifies in Its Military dated March 23, 2014
- China: Xi Jinping’s Anti-corruption Storm Sweeps Gangster-related Tycoons dated April 1, 2014
Tiananmen's Tremendous Achievements 