Petty corruption not trivial in anti-graft war

Anti-corruption supervisory bodies at all levels intensified the campaign against corruption in 2023, achieving new success and advancing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Communist Party of China.

A prominent feature of the anti-corruption campaign in 2023 was the drive to eradicate corruption in specific industries, systems and regions. Strict measures were taken to uproot corruption in sectors such as financing, State-owned enterprises, healthcare, sports, grain procurement and sales, rural vitalization, tobacco and falsification of statistics. This shift from individual cases to eradication of corruption and improving governance in specific sectors marked a significant advancement in the fight against corruption.

Another distinctive aspect of the 2023 anti-corruption drive was the resolute crackdown on new and covert forms of corruption. The anti-corruption campaign's focus on more complex issues revealed some new forms of corruption such as "false transactions", "shadow companies", and profiteering through "shadow shareholders". Supervisory bodies closely studied these new forms of corruption, and intensified efforts to eradicate them.

The rigorous scrutiny of "petty corruption" was a notable feature of the 2023 anti-corruption campaign. Petty corruption refers to corruption that directly affects the general public. Focusing on areas such as employment and entrepreneurship, education, healthcare, eldercare, social security, environmental protection, workplace safety, and food and drug safety, the authorities investigated corruption-related activities like embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, false reporting and extortion. They made special efforts to address petty corruption affecting people's livelihoods, and launched a targeted campaign to uproot corruption in fields such as rural vitalization, by scrutinizing funds intended for agricultural development.

Special emphasis was placed on simultaneously investigating bribe takers and givers in 2023, and more efforts were made to punish bribery, focusing especially on recurrent, large-scale and politically damaging cases. Probing into the "blacklist" system for bribe givers, supervisory bodies handled 12,000 bribery cases in the first three quarters of 2023, 2,365 individuals were referred to the procuratorial authorities.

While global collaboration in the fight against corruption was deepened, in order to pursue fugitives, 1,278 individuals were repatriated to China, including 140 Party members and State officials, and 48 individuals with "red notices" from January to November 2023. Also, about 2.91 billion yuan ($405 million) was recovered.

Besides, the Belt and Road Initiative was leveraged to promote clean business operations, exemplified by hosting the thematic forum on Clean Silk Road during the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Adhering to the eight-point agenda to improve Party and government conduct, the Party acted on its commitment to rectify the "four undesirable work styles": formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance. In particular, efforts were made to address the problems of formalism and bureaucratism, rectifying the mechanical implementations of policies and the arbitrary use of power. And while investigating and addressing the root causes of corruption, the authorities focused on regional, sectoral and phase-specific characteristics, so as to solve the recurring problems.

The revised Regulations of the CPC Disciplinary Action was issued in December 2023 to ensure the Party's disciplinary measures are implemented to strengthen internal supervision and use accountability tools to ensure Party committees at all levels shoulder their responsibilities.

The scope and depth of inspections, too, were expanded in 2023, with increased focus on younger cadres, and early interventions to prevent corruption and strengthen governance, with the measures promoting a clean culture in the new era and especially emphasizing on family values, prompting people to reject corruption and help foster a wholesome ethical environment.

Throughout 2023, supervisory bodies promoted clean governance while cracking down on corruption. In the first three quarters, they handled 1.28 million leads, initiated 470,000 cases and disciplined 405,000 individuals — these figures were noticeably higher than those for 2022.

This year, too, supervisory bodies at all levels will adopt a strict stance against corruption, taking stringent measures to build an ethical atmosphere, and intensifying the anti-corruption campaign in key areas to eradicate petty corruption.

In 2024, while comprehensively enforcing the eight-point decision remains an ongoing and essential task, greater efforts will be made to strengthen the Party's disciplinary structure. And by intensifying political inspections to eradicate corruption, the authorities will intensify the anti-corruption campaign, ensuring victory in the fight against corruption.

The author is former vice-president of the China Academy of Discipline Inspection and Supervision.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

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