There can be no exceptions

The public trials of former ranking officials Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan for corruption and the execution of both in 1952 produced a long-term, remarkable deterrent effect. In 1986 Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping stressed in a speech the deterrent effect their deaths had on economic crimes. However, once this deterrent effect is undermined, it will have a negative influence on anti-corruption work.

In the past three decades, the number of corrupt officials China has investigated and convicted is probably the most in the world, but it has still failed to curb the rampant abuse of power. Meanwhile, some people including ordinary citizens, officials and even law enforcement staff show leniency and even sympathy to convicted corrupt officials. This is primarily because the no exception principle has failed to be implemented to the letter.

Ordinary people know that those who are investigated and convicted don't have a special background and their positions are not high enough to protect them and there are more corrupt senior officials who have not been punished. Some people even believe that such investigations are simply a way that some officials and anti-corruption organizations use to establish authority. Once ordinary people hold such opinions, they tend to participate or condone corrupt practices rather than keeping themselves away from abuses of power.

If a person is thought to be corrupt, he or she should be investigated and if proved to be corrupt punished according to Party disciplines and the law with no regard to his or her position and background. Adherence to this principle shows the new leadership's resolve to crack down on corruption, but it is not the be-all and end-all. A stricter test is whether the new leadership decides to thoroughly solve the corruption problem, and provides steady political support to significant reform that will clean up the soil in which abuse of power flourish. What the anti-corruption campaign has achieved since the 18th CPC National Congress points to the possibility that the new leadership will be able to pass even that test. Then the triumph in the battle against corruption can be truly celebrated.

The author is director of the Clean Governance Research and Education Center at Beihang University, and the article was first released on ifeng.com