Persist with anti-graft fight

How do we look at the fight against corruption if a government department turns out to be a den of corruption with the majority of its members being found to be involved in abusing their powers? Do we agree with some who claim that the fight has gone too far or do we adhere to the belief that zero-tolerance of corruption is the only way the campaign can triumph?

In the latest case, 158 officials in the water conservancy bureau of Jiujiang municipal government of East China's Jiangxi province were found to be involved in rent-seeking, and the money in bribes and kickbacks uncovered amounts to 76 million yuan ($12 million). Seventeen officials have been arrested.

In the most sensational case, five members of the standing committee of the Shanxi provincial Party committee were placed under investigation for abuse of power, more than one-third of its total key members.

Such great achievements in the anti-corruption campaign point to the political biosphere of officialdom, where corruption breeds easily and in abundance. Just as Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee, has said, the situation is severe for the building of a clean government and for the fight against corruption.

It is not surprising that corrupt elements will try and put up resistance to the anti-graft campaign. They will do whatever they can to cover up what they have done in taking bribes and embezzling public money.

Those who are willing to continue to get illegal gains from their positions will certainly complain that the fight has gone too far and hope that it can be brought to an abrupt halt without the political biosphere being transformed.

But for anyone who cherishes hopes for China's sustainable development and long standing prosperity and national renewal, they expect the central authorities to continue the campaign with zero-tolerance to corruption until clean government is achieved.

They want the political biosphere of officialdom to be transformed so it is impossible for those in power to wield power at their own will.

As the anti-graft chief Wang Qishan, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, has said, the campaign is trying to squeeze the space available for officials to seek personal gain by abusing their power and make it so they dare not should any space remain.

The message is the campaign will definitely not discontinue until the rampancy of corruption can be reversed.