Western media refuses to understand Chinese law
Meng Hongwei, vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, is being investigated by China’s National Supervisory Commission for suspected violations of the law, according to an official statement released by the commission on Sunday. A meeting convened early Monday morning by the Communist Party committee of the Ministry of Public Security disclosed information about Meng taking bribes and suspected legal violations. Since Friday, foreign media have started reporting that Meng, also president of Interpol, was missing in China. There is wide speculation that he might be under investigation. But the Western media deliberately used such words as “disappearing” and “missing” to attack China’s political system. They are still using these words even after the official statement was released.
Meng, as a senior official of China’s Ministry of Public Security, is subject to the supervision of the National Supervisory Commission. It’s in full compliance with the law for the commission to investigate his suspected serious violations of the law. His position at Interpol is not a shield to evade Chinese law. In 2011, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was arrested by the US police on accusations that he sexually attacked a maid at a midtown Manhattan hotel. US police arrested him without considering his high-ranking position in the IMF.
Imagine if the Interpol president were an American and that he was arrested by the police for suspected violations of the law upon returning to the US, would there be a problem?
The Western media’s brouhaha stems from their disrespect for Chinese law and misunderstanding of China’s anti-corruption campaign. Wherever China’s legal system differs from the West’s, they arrogantly regard such differences as “flaws.”
Comprehensively promoting the rule of law has been an established national policy since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Since then, China has launched a sweeping anti-graft campaign, bringing great changes to the exercise of power. The anticorruption campaign, a tough job, is a milestone in China. The campaign has drawn on some concepts of Western governance but has been carried out based on Chinese realities with the aim of establishing a stable and clean environment for the exercise of public power.
Regrettably Western opinion rarely applauds China’s righteous anticorruption campaign. Rather it rants and raves against it or even viciously misinterprets it. If the Western media attacks China over its elimination of corrupt officials, what justice can China expect in their reports?
The investigation of Meng by China’s National Supervisory Commission strictly adheres to the Supervision Law adopted by the country’s national legislature earlier this year. As Meng held a position at Interpol, his case involves communications and coordination among supervisory and diplomatic organs. The Western media is adept at hyping this particular aspect and that is how they exercise their hegemonic rhetoric.
Meng is the highest-level official to be investigated since the Supervision Law took effect. We believe the fresh application of this new law will have a magnificent deterring effect upon other potentially corrupt officials.