Since his ascendency to general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November 2012 and the presidency in March 2013, Xi Jinping has executed a sweeping anti-corruption campaign that has targeted hundreds of thousands of officials at all levels of government and state-owned industry.
“The problems among our party members and cadres – of corruption, taking bribes, being out of touch with the people – must be addressed with great effort,” Mr Xi said at the party’s 2012 plenum.
The scale of official corruption in China is staggering, with Bank of America estimating that the nation’s GDP fell 1.5 per cent last year as cadres ceased purchasing luxury goods and real estate for fear of being targeted for investigation.
Between 1990 and 2011, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences believes 18,000 corrupt officials fled the country, taking up to $US129 billion with them.
In perhaps the most important phrase of his campaign, Mr Xi stated in 2013 that it was just as important to go after the “flies”, or lowly people, as it was to tackle the “tigers”, or top officials, in the battle against graft.
“We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials, and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people,” he said.
Monitor, investigator, accuser and executioner
The chief of the party’s immensely powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and one of the seven-person Politburo Standing Committee, Wang Qishan, has said the campaign can be broken down into three stages:
– Would not dare to be corrupt, where historical indiscretions of both serving and retired party cadres would be pursued.
– Would not be able to be corrupt, where new procedures would be embedded to not allow corrupt activity.
– Would not want to be corrupt, otherwise known as the “would not think of it” stage where the party has a mature service ethic.
The CCDI is the party’s all-powerful watchdog – its monitor, investigator, accuser and executioner – of corruption, bad management and anti-party behaviour amongst its 87 million members.
The most common charge levelled against alleged corrupt cadres is that of being suspected of or “violating discipline”, for which the ‘tigers’ below have all been found accused or charged.
Yang Weize
– Former Communist Party secretary of Nanjing
– Previous posts include party secretary of Wuxi city and mayor of Suzhou
Just over a year ago, Nanjing’s mayor Ji Jianye was removed for corruption, and in December 2014 prosecutors said he would be tried for bribery.
It was unclear whether his case was linked to that of Mr Yang, who in January 2015 fell to China’s anti-corruption watchdog.
“Nanjing city party secretary, Yang Weize, suspected of severe violations of discipline and law, is now under investigation,” the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement.
It gave no further details.
Zhang Kunsheng
– Former assistant foreign minister
The first senior Chinese diplomat sacked and placed under investigation in the anti-corruption campaign against graft, the foreign ministry said in a brief statement in January 2015 that Mr Zhang had been removed from his post “suspected of violating discipline and is being investigated”.
It was not clear who was conducting the investigation or exactly what Mr Zhang was alleged to have done.
Mr Zhang was the most senior of the country’s four assistant foreign ministers, who rank below the vice foreign ministers, and was in charge of the protocol department.
Ling Jihua
– Former head of the central committee’s United Front Work Department
– Top aide of former president Hu Jintao
Once tipped for a spot in the politburo of the Communist party, Mr Ling found himself in the spotlight after the death of his son Ling Gu in a car crash in March 2012.
Two young women, one nude and the other partly clothed, were seriously injured in the Ferrari crash.
Despite a media blackout surrounding the crash, internet users questioned how the son of a party official could afford a car reportedly worth around $US800,000.
According to a one-line report in the party’s official mouthpiece People’s Daily in January 2015, Ling Jihua was dismissed as chief of the United Front Work Department.
The Xinhua news agency also reported that the party’s anti-corruption watchdog had opened an investigation into Mr Ling for “suspected serious disciplinary violations”.
Zhou Yongkang
– Former domestic security chief
– Member of elite Politburo Standing Committee 2007-2012
Mr Zhou was one of the most powerful men in China until his retirement in November 2012, overseeing a vast internal security apparatus that officially receives more money than the Chinese military.
In July 2014, China’s official Xinhua news agency said Mr Zhou was suspected of “serious disciplinary violations” and provided no other information, making him the most senior member of the Communist Party to be investigated since the Gang of Four – a faction that included the widow of founding leader Mao Zedong – were put on trial in 1980.
For months beforehand, more than 300 family members and allies of Mr Zhou in his powerbases in Sichuan and the state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corporation, including its chief Jiang Jiemin, were targeted one by one by the CCDI.
Authorities reportedly seized assets worth at least $US14.5 billion from family members and associates.
In ordering the investigation, President Xi broke with an unwritten rule that incumbent and retired members of the Standing Committee were immune from prosecution.
Xu Caihou
– Former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission that runs the 2-million strong People’s Liberation Army
Member of Politburo until 2012
– The decision to expel the former general from the party was made at a politburo meeting chaired by Mr Xi.
According to a report from Xinhua news agency in July 2014, Mr Xu seriously violated party discipline and is suspected of bribery.
Investigators found Mr Xu took advantage of his post “to assist the promotion of certain people”, and accepted bribes “personally and through his family members”, Xinhua said, quoting a statement issued after the meeting.
“His case is serious and leaves vile impact.”
As he is a military figure he received a court martial with Xinhua reporting in October, citing military prosecutors, that he confessed to taking bribes.
Wan Qingliang
– Former party secretary of Guangzhou
– Short lived turn as Guangzhou mayor before ascending to party chief
Many regarded Mr Wan as a Communist party official on the rise, with the 50-year-old the youngest person to serve as Guangzhou’s mayor and enjoying a reputation for frugality, living in a cheap rental.
But a brief statement in June 2014 from the party’s CCDI implicated him for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”.
“Wan Qingliang used his position to seek benefits for others, extorted, received and gave a large amount of bribes… and many times visited private clubs,” the official Xinhua news agency said in a brief report.
The detail around these violations are notoriously difficult to ascertain, but a CCDI co-produced television series in December 2014 featured one of Mr Wan’s “undesirable work styles” as visiting luxurious clubhouses.
Original post http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-14/chinas-tigers-downfall-timeline/6016714
