OPINION> Commentary
Weed out the corrupt
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-24 07:43

The publication of a five-year anti-corruption plan by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last week sends out a clear message.

The CPC is determined to cultivate a clean and honest government by rooting out corruption.

Increasingly rampant corruption has been eroding the credibility of the CPC and the anti-corruption campaign is paramount because it is important for the future of the Party and the country.

The number of corruption cases investigated by prosecutors was 169,159 in four years from 2003 to June of 2007, while the number of offenders either disciplined or put to jail reached 196,604 during the same period. The economic loss from these cases amounted to 23.82 billion yuan ($3.5 billion). These figures revealed at an anti-corruption exhibition in Beijing last year show how severe the situation is.

Little wonder that anti-corruption efforts are described as vital to the position of CPC as a Party in the leadership.

That so many cases were investigated and so many corrupt elements caught points to the necessity of strengthening supervision.

This explains why the new plan has placed an emphasis on the establishment of a corruption prevention mechanism, which should make it possible for government officials to be supervised both from within and outside the Party.

The supervision mechanism within the Party should function as a preliminary threshold to stop dishonest and selfish members from taking official positions.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the plan proposes that officials in power should be the focus for supervision and how they exercise their power must be subject to supervision.

The plan also suggests that the people's congresses at all levels must effectively exercise their function of supervision by examining budgets of their governments and checking their development projects as well.

What is encouraging is the plan's proposition that successful practices at different localities or departments to check corruption need to be collected to see whether they can become universal rules. If so, they can be developed into national laws. Hopefully, some laws and regulations will be made and some amended in the coming five years to better facilitate anti-corruption efforts.

The special attention the plan pays to building a corruption prevention system holds out hopes for the success of the anti-corruption campaign.

(China Daily 06/24/2008 page8)