4.7 million people punished in China’s decade- long anti- graft campaign
China has won an overwhelming victory in the fight against corruption in the past decade with the anti- graft watchdog investigating 4.39 million cases and punishing 4.7 million people as of April. Chinese observers believe upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China ( CPC) is the fundamental guarantee for China’s achievements in countering graft, which also reflects China’s institutional strengths compared with the US and a few Western countries where corruption has become institutionalized.
Wang Jianxin, director of the Publicity Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and the National Commission of Supervision, said at a press conference on Thursday that since the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012 to the end of April 2022, the discipline inspection and supervision organs nationwide investigated 4.39 million cases, and punished 4.7 million people.
He said that disciplinary organs handled more than 723,000 cases of violations of the eight- point rules on improving Party and government conduct, with more than 644,000 people punished.
A total of 74,000 people nationwide voluntarily surrendered to discipline inspection and supervision organs since the 19th CPC National Congress in October 2017, the official said, noting that it demonstrated China strikes hard with zero tolerance for corruption, and anti- graft campaigns have been conducted on a regular basis.
Relying on the leadership of the CPC to fight against corruption and on the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics to punish corruption, as well as relying on the strengths of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics to prevent corruption, China has successfully blazed a path of fighting against corruption with Chinese characteristics, Wang said.
Ren Jianming, an anti- corruption expert from Beihang University’s School of Public Administration, told the Global Times on Thursday that the most important feature of fighting against corruption with Chinese characteristics is upholding the leadership of the CPC, which guarantees that China could carry the anticorruption campaign through to the end amid tough and complex situations.
Ren said that corruption, ultimately, is a violation of the interests of the people, and the CPC gives people a solid sense of gain and security through the anti- graft campaign.
Since 2012, China has taken seriously all problems people complained about strongly. Since the country launched the national campaign against organized and gang- related crimes in 2018, China has dealt with 100,000 cases involving corruption and “protective umbrellas” of criminal gangs and punished 92,000 people as of April, according to Wang.
China’s achievements in the anti- graft campaign in the past decade reflect China’s institutional strengths, Ren said, noting the political system of the US and other Western countries cannot allow their countries to implement such a long- term strategy, while some US media outlets have been smearing China’s anti- corruption campaign for years.