Xi Jinping intensifies crackdown on industries

HONG KONG: Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to go after those who are responsible for the corruption and has launch a campaign which will target industries such as finance, energy and infrastructure, media reports said.

China will tackle “hidden risks” and increase the punishment for people who offer bribes, Xi was quoted as saying at a meeting of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), its top anti-graft body, state media reported.

“While there had been an overwhelming victory in the decade-long anti-corruption push, the situation remains complex,” Xi said. “In the face of such [a] complex situation, there can be no stopping, slacking or compromising on anti-corruption,” CNN reported.

We will deepen the rectification of corruption in power-concentrated, capital- intensive and resource-rich sectors, he said.

He said that the party will punish the ‘corruption of flies and ants’ to give the masses a greater sense of gain.

Since Xi assumed power in 2012, he has been going after both “tigers,” high ranking officials, as well as “flies,” lower level cadres. The reference to flies and ants refers to corruption by small players or smaller-scale corruption that is easier to conceal, CNN reported.

The campaign, which is Xi’s signature project, has swept across the ruling Communist Party, the government, the military and state-owned companies in waves. Now its focus will be on state-owned enterprises, including the pharmaceutical sector.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, says the message is that the crackdown won’t be ending anytime soon, CNN reported.