BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Corruption has been falling among Chinese Communist Party members overall, but the number of cases involving higher-ranking officials taking larger bribes has risen, a party official was quoted on Sunday as saying.
“Greed, hedonism and egoism have grown among a few officials during the development of China’s socialist market economy,” said He Yong, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC (Communist Party of China).
He said an effective anti-corruption system had yet to be established, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
“At this transitional period of fundamental structural reform, loopholes exist in China’s administrative mechanism,” he said.
In the past two years China has prosecuted and punished nearly 50,000 party officials at various levels in the nationwide anti-corruption drive, according to the latest government figures.
But corruption remains a serious problem, He said. “The achievements of the anti-corruption campaign are still far below the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the expectations of the common people.”
On the future of anti-corruption measures, He said the CPC and government will focus on supervision and further improve the administrative mechanism.
The government has taken steps to prosecute corrupt officials accused of illegally confiscating farmers’ land, embezzling public funds and delaying payment of migrant workers’ wages.
State media said on Friday that the trial had begun of a local Communist Party chief for his role in one of the bloodiest in a wave of rural riots to strike the country in recent years.
In June, hired thugs killed six and injured dozens of villagers staging a sit-in on land confiscated by a state-owned power plant to protest against low compensation in Shengyou village in the northern province of Hebei.
The Shengyou sit-in was one of a series of protests in rural China, many of which have focused on land rights as rapid development encroaches on farmland. Corruption and the growing gap between rich and poor have also been flashpoints for unrest.
The government has said there were some 74,000 protests in China last year involving 100 or more people.
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So this begs the question…Is the invasion of a somewhat market economy heralding the end of Communism in China?
Well, it may at least be overwhelming its system via corruption that may make the people rise up and overthrow it eventually.
It is hoped that this can happen BEFORE China decides to use its army and arsenal to lash out in a last gasp to attack either its neighbors of the USA itself, if not both.
It is true, from an outsider looking in that, this civil unrest may be disturbing. But notice the “rule of law” is proceeding. It may not look like the US model, but what does? On the whole, however, the US has it own version of corruption, it is called “governmental institutions” also affectionately know as bureaucracy that makes corruption on this side of pond look civilized. And, let us not start with corruption of recent weeks, months, or years that have been in the news. Starting with Enron on down. Oh it may look bloodless, but the fact of the matter it is not. I do not want to sound like a bleeding heart here, but the thousands of people who lost their livelihood and suffered for the corporate greed of individuals have been enthralled in their own tragedie; They are not especially reported. (This bleeding heart moment was brought to by Alka Seltzer). Corporations over the years have been just as guilty of destroying lives or deaths, some by violence, some by inaction, and some by influencing government officials to do their dirty work. So, let us not cast any stones on the how the process looks in China. Yes, it may look ugly, reality sometimes is, but when you have 1.3 billion people, yes billion with a “b”, progess is daunting and the “rule of law” is a must. Consider the alternative, 1.3 billion people in violent chaos. And, this number would grow, covering the continet of Asia in its entirety and surely eventuate into Europe. To have half the globe in chaos, in darkness of violence, capitalist markets disrupted, would surely plunge this country into its own nightmare. So, forgive me if I do not wish to rush to judgment on how the Chinese handle their corruption. I could go on, but let us not focus on negativity but the positives, that China is slowly marching toward democracy and capitalism. So what, if it is a socialistic democracy, at least it will be a democracy! Yes, to have a competition is frightening, but as they say, “competition breeds excellence.” It is time for this nation, the United States, to become excellent again.