Corruption and rottenness in China are the output of the bureaucratic system, a disease not curable by campaigns against corruption and graft. Ever since the ea.rly 1950s, the ruling party leadership has made resolutions one after another to combat corruption, but they have all been lacking in effectiveness. With the general restoration of the profit-driven market economy, and the collusion of power and money, corruption aggravates both in scale and degree. This is evidenced again in the speech of leaders after a meeting in mid January this year.
The Bulletin of the Fourth General Assembly of the Disciplinary Inspection Committee of the CCP Central Leadership pointed out that this year is a crucial year in fighting corruption and rottenness. Party and state institutions and officials in leadership positions in economic, administrative, judicial and executive institutions should be centrally inspected, and illegal activities should be investigated into and brought to justice. Among those to be put under special investigation would be the leadership of regions or departments which have suffered serious economic losses or major incidents, or where complaints from the public have been directed. The spouses and children of cadres in leadership positions who have used their positions of influence should also be checked.
The above wording sounds empty and ambiguous, yet they offer a glimpse of the serious problems identified to lie with the party and state leadership. Wei Jianxing, Secretary of the Disciplinary Inspection Committee, said that in 1999, disciplinary inspection institutions all over the country investigated and closed files on over 130,000 cases, and disciplined over 132,000 party members with penalty, which included over 4,000 officials above the rank of county heads, over 300 officials above the rank of district heads, and 17 officials above the rank of provincial heads. However, if the statistics are read in a different way, it means that people below the rank of county heads numbered almost 97% among those disciplined. That means most are small flies and not big tigers.
Here are some instances reported in the media, including some major scandals.
1. The State Central Finance Department, in conjunction with the Monitoring Department and the Central Bank, conducted investigation on the management of funds outside of the central budget, and uncovered that unlawful, arbitrary administrative fees and funds amounted to RMB 735 million yuan, funds for special accounts receivable by the state were 12.46 billion yuan, and receivable budgetary funds were 6.33 billion yuan. This means that besides arbitrary collection of fees, funds budgeted for special accounts and purposes were appropriated for other use, such as for foreign investments or loans.([1])
2. The National Auditing Department found out that in 1999, various funds against financial and economic legislations amounted to 125 billion yuan. Of this, 4.3 billion yuan of poverty alleviation fund was used on subsidizing administrative costs, purchase of automobiles and construction of houses. 3 billion yuan was either appropriated from the irrigation construction fund or were forced collection of funds from the people. The funds involved in the arbitrary collection of fines and fees, or secretive transfer of funds in over 2,400 law courts and 2,100 procuratorates, amounted to 5.7 billion yuan. 62 higher education institutions in 1998 were found to have arbitrarily collected fees and got involved in unapproved financial activities, with the amount totalling 4.9 billion yuan. Of the funds allocated for the migration of residents affected by the Three Gorges Dam project, 500 million yuan was appropriated for other use, and 10 corruption cases and 14 people were prosecuted.([2]) According to a report of the APF from Beijing, the amount of Three Gorges migration fund appropriated by the officials was 5 billion yuan.([3])
3. According to Zhao Yongji, Deputy Head of the Public Security Department, economic crimes in China "have increased dramatically and the amounts involved were immense". In the first eight months of 1999, cases investigated by the Public Security bureau involved an amount of 84 billion yuan, an increase of over three times compared to the same period in the preceding year. The number of cases totalled 33,000, an increase of 23% compared to the preceding year. In the second half of 1998, smuggled goods that were seized amounted to almost 3.7 billion yuan. At the end of 1998, in a drive against crimes in telegraphic transfers of money, China redeemed over US$10 billion.([4])
4. According to a circular issued by the Disciplinary Inspection Committee of the Guangdong Province, a particularly notorious case of smuggling in Zhanjiang City was uncovered. From early 1996 to September 1998, smuggled goods totalled a value of 11 billion yuan, tax evasion totalled 6.2 billion yuan, and 331 people were incriminated, with 259 being government officials, including Chen Tongqing, the former party secretary of the Zhanjiang City Party Committee, and others such as the deputy city mayor, and the bureau head of the Public Security customs bureau.([5])
5. Yang Wenpu, an official from the Fujian Provincial government news bureau, reported that in a notorious case of smuggling investigated by the Central Disciplinary Inspection Committee, it was found that a broad network of leading government, party and bank officials were involved in the smuggling of crude oil and automobiles, and a preliminary estimate of smuggled goods imported into China via Xiamen totalled 80 billion yuan.([6])
6. According to a report by the China Youth Daily, underground tobacco factories have extended from Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces to several other provinces in the hinterland such as Sichuan and Yunnan. Some of them take cover by using empty military camps as factories, and using special vehicles such as military trucks and post vehicles for transportation. Some processing camps are covered up by the zones being designated as prohibited military zones barring ordinary people from entry. It is reported that smuggled tobacco and fake tobacco are taking up quite a proportion in the market, and a conservative estimate was that the state treasury suffered a loss of 20 billion yuan a year.([7])
7. According to a report by the Beijing Daily, in Fujian province, smuggled mobile phones totalled a value of US$300 million, evading tax of US$40 million. The Fujian Telecommunications Bureau has been put under investigation.([8])
8. Jia Chunwang, Head of the Ministry of Public Security, made a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in December 1999, admitting that corruption, graft and abuse of power for economic interests among the public security police have been quite serious.
The above are just some incidences of corruption brought to the light. The fact that both Zhu Rongji spoke about this in the second meeting of the Clean Government Work Committee under the State Council, and Jiang Zemin spoke about this in the Disciplinary Inspection Committee meeting, demonstrates the acuteness of the problem which does not seem to find any viable solutions. Not long ago, a decision made to increase the salary of civil servants by 30% every year for three successive years was an attempt to rescue the situation. However, the increase in salary cannot be compared to the lucrative amounts from bribery and graft.
The best answer to the state's declaration of its resolution to combat corruption and rottenness is the following. The 15th Congress of the Communist Party of China convened in September 1997 made a special pledge to combat corruption and rottenness, and called on all party cadres and all the people of China to implement it. After a year, according to Zhao Yongji quoted above, the amounts involved in economic crimes increased by over three times compared to the preceding year. The cancer continues to spread.
18 February 2000
[1] Reported by Hong Kong's Wen Hui Bao on 13 June 1999, from Beijing.
[2] Special coverage by Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily, 22 Jan 2000.
[3] APF 21 Jan 2000 from Beijing, reported by Hong Kong's Shing Pao, 22 Jan 2000.
[4] Special coverage by Hong Kong's Ming Pao, 11 Nov 1999.
[5] Hong Kong's Wen Hui Bao, 16 September 1999.
[6] Hong Kong's Ming Pao 23 Jan 2000, and Apple Daily, 21 Jan 2000.
[7] Hong Kong's Oriental Daily News, 11 Jan 2000.
[8] Hong Kong's Shing Pao, 22 Jan 2000.