HONG KONG - An intensified campaign to crack down on official corruption is
sweeping across China, with public attention focused on which big fish will
be netted next after the Communist Party's announcement last month of the
dismissal of Chen Liangyu as its Shanghai chief.
Chen, who was also one of the 24 members of the politburo - the power core of
China - is alleged to have been involved in the
embezzlement of social-security funds in Shanghai worth millions of US dollars.
The anti-corruption drive has won the wholehearted support of the general
public, with the growing expectation that President Hu Jintao will restore some
social justice by fighting corrupt officials.
Official corruption is so rampant that there is a saying in China that if
all officials were lined up and shot, some innocent ones might be killed. But
if every other one was shot, many who were corrupt would be spared.
In this situation, it is easy and convenient for Chinese leaders to use
anti-graft campaigns as a weapon to purge political rivals. This is not a new
ploy - Chinese emperors often used crackdowns on corruption to get rid of
officials they did not like.
For this reason, foreign China-watchers tend to see Hu's anti-corruption
efforts in a political light as part of an ongoing power struggle against the
legacy of former president Jiang Zemin and his Shanghai Gang, of which the
fallen Chen was a member. On the other hand, ordinary people in China see Hu's
housecleaning simply as an effort to make China a better country with the
restoration of social justice. In reality, viewing the campaign from both sides
provides a more complete picture.
From the power-struggle point
of view, it can be concluded that by sacking Chen,
Hu has gained the upper hand over the Shanghai
Gang backed by Jiang.
The Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) announced Chen's dismissal on the eve
of the convention of a plenum of its policymaking
Central Committee early last month.
This paved the way for Hu's idea of building a "harmonious society" to be
endorsed as the new party line at the plenum and, furthermore, laid the
foundations for him to call the shots with a reshuffle at the CCP's 17th
National Congress next year. In this sense, this congress will mark the coming
of the "Hu era".
Speculation is rife that Hu's next targets will be two of the nine members of
the Standing Committee of the politburo: Jia Qinglin and Huang Ju.
The ill Huang, who is also vice premier and ranks as No 6 in the
official hierarchy, was Chen's predecessor. Investigations into Chen's case
have so far implicated more than 50 Shanghai officials and entrepreneurs. It is
suspected that Huang could have been involved in some of the scandals that are
being exposed as this investigation continues.
Jia is also chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
and ranks as China's No 4 leader. Though not a member of the Shanghai Gang, Jia
is close to Jiang, having worked under him.
Jia was based in Fujian province from 1985 to 1996 as deputy CCP chief,
governor and then party chief. It has been noted that rampant smuggling by the
notorious Yuanhua Group of Lai Changxing, who is now in exile in Canada, took
place in Fujian when the southeastern province was under Jia's control.
Many Fujian officials have been implicated and jailed for their involvement in
this, but Jia has appeared to be immune. Two years before Beijing launched an
investigation into the Yuanhua smuggling case, Jia was promoted by Jiang as
Beijing's party chief, replacing Chen Xitong, who had just been purged by Jiang
for corruption. The Beijing post enabled Jia to become a politburo member.
In June, Liu Zhihua, a deputy Beijing mayor overseeing land requisition and
infrastructure, was sacked for corruption. A team from the CCP's Central
Commission for Disciplinary Inspection, China's top anti-graft watchdog, is now
conducting an investigation in the capital city.
It is expected that Liu's scandal will snowball to implicate more
and higher-ranking officials, as in Shanghai, where Chen was netted amid
an investigation into lesser officials. Thus the belief that Liu Qi, the
current Beijing party chief, and his predecessor, Jia, could soon be exposed.
If Huang and Jia are nailed for corruption, it would be the largest scandal
since 1949 when the communists came to power. So far only two politburo
members, Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu, have been pulled down because of
corruption.
Some analysts, however, don't think it is likely unless Hu's hand is forced, as
the move could easily backfire. "The shock would be beyond imagination and
people would rightly question the legitimacy of communist rule. Hu may not want
to take such a risk unless he is driven into a corner," a Beijing-based
political scientist said.
"The party plenum last month was evidence that Hu now is firmly in grip of
power after sacking Chen. He has already achieved his goal and there is no need
for him to escalate the struggle, which may force all his rivals to unite
against him," the political scientist said.
After all, neither Jia nor Huang poses any direct threat to Hu or his reshuffle
plans as both will step down in the 17th Congress because of their age. "Why
would Hu want to remove them now, which would cause a reshuffle, only to
disrupt his plans for a leadership reshuffle at the 17th Congress?" the
political scientist said. But he added, "Of course, Hu could not and might not
want to protect them if hard evidence is found against them. But then that's
nothing to do with a power struggle."
Harmonious society
From another perspective, the current anti-graft campaign must be viewed as a
key to implementing the new party line of building an harmonious society.
The late Chinese premier Zhou Enlai once told a visiting Western journalist how
to read an official Chinese newspaper. He said what was hailed in "our
newspapers" was "what we should make efforts to attain".
Hence Hu's decision to build a harmonious society means that society now is not
harmonious. Indeed, there are far too many unharmonious factors: an
ever-widening wealth gap; unbalanced development between regions and
industries; street protests every day; deadly coal-mine accidents; local
officials' abuse of power in bullying ordinary people, such as taking away land
from farmers with little compensation - the list could go on.
Almost all such "unharmonious" problems could be blamed on social injustice
stemming from official corruption. Hence the key to building an harmonious
society is to restore social justice. But social justice cannot be restored
without getting rid of official corruption.
This goes to the heart of the legitimacy of the rule of the CCP. Hu is fully
aware of this. He once said at a party meeting that the CCP and the communist
state would cease to exist if rampant official corruption were not effectively
curbed.
While speculation about big fish being netted grabs most attention, China's
anti-graft campaign is going deep into every corner of the country. Almost
every day there are reports of local officials being caught.
From this point of view, by putting forward the idea of building a harmonious
society, Hu aims to preserve communist rule in China. For him, this is a war he
must win. If he succeeds, he will be remembered by the Chinese people. But if
he fails, official corruption could provide the ultimately threat to the CCP.
John Ng is a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist.
