China fines more than one lakh people under its anti-corruption drive

BEIJING: According to a report, more than 1,11,000 people in China were fined in the first quarter of 2023 under corruption charges after they received nearly 776,000 petitions and reports, out of which 231,000 were just accusations, Directus reported.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervisory Commission fined more than a lakh officials. Looking at the numbers, one might assume that China is attempting to combat corruption but the reality is disheartening. With the failure of its COVID policy and the slowdown of the economy, the nearly 50 million state employees were victims of the economic crisis.

With most of the state governments being in debt, life as an official in China is not as comfortable as it used to be, Directus reported. Directus is a daily from Greece reporting news about Greece, all the latest news and developments, geopolitical analysis and commentary on Greece's national issues.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tries its best to stamp out corruption in the form of theft of state assets, bribery, and graft. However, a large reason for the survival of the state apparatus is corruption itself, with favours, special treatment and job perks being a huge reason for people to support and prop up the autocratic and harsh regime.

State officials compete fiercely in order to attract investment in the region and then resort to corruption in order to profit from it, in the form of fees to speed up access, extorting the very businesses that they wanted to invite in order to meet their work performance targets. Maintaining such a precarious balance has led to the growth of the Chinese economy over the years.

The reason why this anti-corruption data is suddenly important is that business will no longer continue as usual. The intentions of America and the EU to slowly decouple from the Chinese economy mean that this model of sustainable corruption will soon come to an end, Directus reported.

It is inevitable that over the course of the next few years, the falsification of economic data outside China will reach a new high. The frequent chaos within the party will create new problems in terms of governance for the CCP.

The very nature of the party dictates that officials love to form close ties with private entrepreneurs and help each other grow through this form of patronage, Directus reported.

After years of anti-corruption drives that lowered that country's forex reserves to a quarter of its initial size, the CCP trying extremely hard to arrest anyone who threatens to leave the CCP's control. Only entrepreneurs who stay rooted within China and work hard to absorb the 'nutrients' and 'sunlight' of the global economy are considered temporarily safe.

In 2023, the focus is shifting to central ministries and specialized inspections, particularly finance, sport, and nearly 30 state-owned enterprises. The top leaders will soon enjoy huge bribes in order to provide political cover against the crime of bribery in the first place, Directus reported.

Another important factor to note is whether Xi Jinping will prioritize the recovery of the economy over the control of the financial sector. With the new premier, Li Qiang, attempting to play the good guy to foreign businesses at the China Development Forum in Beijing, the weak business confidence continues to grow as companies seek alternatives to China.

It is very clear that Li Qiang's economic goals are going to be hamstrung by his own boss as Xi Jinping attempts to increase party control over private business in the coming months. Rumours have also emerged about the use of digital yuan as a tool in cutting down on corruption within the party after salaries to civil servants in Changshu were paid in virtual currency.

The national and unified system for real estate registration can also be used to target corruption but the ban on information disclosure makes it unlikely that the public will ever have the means to investigate. Crackdowns on cryptocurrency exchanges and mining continue with the Chinese people becoming slow to embrace the digital yuan, Directus reported.

After China Central Television aired a lacklustre 5-part mini-series called Zero Tolerance in 2022, this year saw the ramping up of propaganda efforts with the massively popular 39 episode blockbuster title The Knockout detailing the politically correct fight between a cop and crime boss.

It is interesting to see how the CCP attempts to tackle corruption while relying on it to maintain its authority and fuel the growth of the Ponzi scheme that is the Chinese economy.