Nature of Political Corruption in China - Essay Example

Recent Political Events in China: Political Corruption Nature of Political Corruption in China Political corruption isa serious global vice that affects both developed and developing countries in equal measures. China, for instance, is emerging as a global powerhouse exerting its economic and political influence on other emerging nations in the East as well as other parts of the world. The emergence and growth of China as a global leader in recent years, however, has not been without criticism of widespread corruption in the government and in its institutions. In 2013, Transparency International ranked China at 80th in 178 nations investigated on its Corruption Perceptions Index. This places China on the same level as Trinidad and Tobago and Serbia. The index also reveals that China is indeed more corrupt than most of the developing countries like Sri Lanka. Corruption in China takes various forms such as either structural or non-structural. Non-structural corruption is also common in other parts of the world and includes illegal or criminal acts such as embezzlement of public funds, bribery, nepotism, and patronage. Structural corruption, on the other hand, is very difficult to tackle because it emerges on from weakness in political and economic structures in the country. This includes backdoor deals, statistical falsification, and graft. What is worse, corruption in China takes place at both individual and institutional levels. Political corruption has been a major obstacle to China’s development over the years and despite the government taking significant steps to curb the problem, there are still major instances of corruption in the country. Some analysts such as Yan Sun, a professor at City University of New York claim that there are more corrupt members in China’s leading political party, CPP than there are honest members. The current Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken a tough stance against corruption and has vowed to fight the vice. Impacts of widespread corruption include undermining democracy and good governance, reduces accountability, weakens institutions, and compromises both international and national laws. Corruption is a major threat to China’s development in its bid to overtake the US the world economic powerhouse. Most of the cases of corruption in China do nt6 find their way to the international stage due to unwillingness of the government to share such data with foreign agencies. This has, however, not stopped some cases from attracting headlines in both local and international media. This essay is based on Makinen Julie’s article titled “In China, Corruption Cases Keep Cropping Up," published in the Los Angel’s Times on May 16th, 2014. In the article, the author discusses two recent instances of political corruption involving leading government officials. The first case involves about 16 million dollars cash money that was found in the home of China’s Deputy Director of the National Energy Agency’s coal division. This is so far the biggest fraud that has been unearthed in recent times by the Chinese government. In the other case, corruption investigators arrested a leading Political advisor of the government with close to 22 elephant tusks, which had been acquired inappropriately. These two cases only represent other instances of corruption in the country that are rampant in both national and provincial leadership. 2. Relationship Between Corruption And Current Politics The current political situation in China is relatively stable. The political situation is predictable, reliable and operates based on known laws. The level of crime around the country is relatively low with minimal instances of social unrest. These factors make the political situation of China very stable in comparison to most of its neighbors in the East. The Communist party of China has governed China since independence and establishment of the Peoples Republic of China. The main political ideology in China is democratic centralism, which promotes single party leadership. China’s president is elected at a People’s Congress. Most of the Chinese people are satisfied with this system of governance, hence the stability. The political situation is however in a transition due to growing social and political influence from the West. Ideas of social democracy have gained popularity in China in recent years, leading to emergence of many other political parties to offer governance alternative to the population. These political parties, however, do not have sufficient influence to push or promote their political agenda. The main organs of the state include the President, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), and the State Council. The NPC is the highest state organ in the country. It has the sole responsibility of approving major policies, budgets, laws and personnel changes. The NPC conducts annual meetings to deliberate on important issues in governance. Most of the Chinese laws are enacted by a committee of the NPC known as the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPCSC). State functions are similar to party functions in China due to the single party rule structure. China is currently a highly industrialized nation with huge economic growth, which has made the country one of the biggest economies in the world. The country boasts of a huge population, which offers ready labor for emerging industries. Political stability is measured based on the level of political violence, government interruption in private businesses, occurrence of riots and strikes, social unrest as well as political uncertainty. Looking at these standards, China is indeed a politically stable country because there are no major instances of violence, government interference and the political system in place is predictable and stable. However, this political stability thrives on the back of a huge political risk coupled with inadequate or lack of regulatory and legal transparency. Despite the political situation being stable, lack of transparency and weak institutional frameworks are major threats for both locals and foreigners who invest in the country. Lack of transparency has created room for conflict of interest to thrive in both political and economical institutions in the country. China lacks an appropriate legal and regulatory framework that can promote transparency, reform political institutions, and encourage business growth. This situation is the root cause of corruption. Corruption has been part-and-parcel of China’s growth over the years, but has taken a significantly high trajectory as china becomes the center of focus on the global scene. Lack of transparency in the government and the business world is a breeding ground for corrupt acts like bribery, nepotism and backdoor deals. Inadequate legislation framework makes public institutions weak thereby opening up avenues for structural corruption, which is very common in China. There are loopholes within the current legal framework that make it easy for corrupt individuals to escape scot-free. For instance, while China has an appropriate legal framework to protect real property, intellectual property remains a grey area in the law. This creates more room for piracy, counterfeiting, and industrial espionage, which promote corruption. Issues of contract frustration and interference in governance of public organizations through nepotism have become more common in recent years. China also lacks uniformity in the judicial system. Courts across the country operate based on different standards, which make it difficult for individuals to access justice. Courts in highly developed cities such as shanghai and Beijing have relatively higher standards in comparison with courts on other less developed provinces and cities. This also contributes to the problem of corruption in the country because different courts will have different interpretations of the same issue depending on one’s location. There is a very strong relationship between political corruption and the current political framework in place in China. Politicians have the responsibility of enacting laws and putting in place mechanisms to fight all forms of corruption and strengthening public institutions. Chinese politicians have not created a strong structure to weep out corruption. The current political leadership spearheaded by President Xi Jinping has made some developments in this respect through issuance of stern punishments and putting in place some structures that have uncovered recent cases of corruption such as the two cases mentions in Makinen’s article in LA times. The government’s focus, however, is mostly driven towards specific forms of non-structured corruption such as bribery and graft. On the other hand, non-structural corruption has been thriving throughout the country and is proving very difficult to deal with. Issues such as falsification of statistics in order to hide some realities or to paint a perfect picture of a particular situation are rampant in China. The level of lack of transparency is at its all time high. Other acts of political corruption are also seen in lack of accountability of local officials, especially at the grass root level. The main political party, the Communist Party of China also funds other smaller opposition parties for the whole world to see China as a democratic state. This is the type of political corruption China should focus on fighting in order to eradicate the vice in the country. There is also a perception that most of the powerful leaders and those close to the seat of power often go scot-free when they are involved in corrupt deals, unless if they fall out of favor of the ruling party. 3. Interpretation of the issue based on history, culture and institutions Despite emerging in recent years as a major global force, China has a rich history that dates back several centuries ago. China’s history shows the evolution of the country from ancient powerful dynasties through imperial leadership in the Mao era to the present day communism. The Chinese culture is also very dynamic and has changed over the years to its modern state. An important part of China’s growth and evolution is its leadership, culture, and institutions. These three elements are closely related and are important in determining the social, economic and political path of a country, as well as shaping beliefs and values of the people. The challenges that the country is facing, such as massive political corruption can be illustrated through the countries historical developments. China’s History has seen massive developments and changes in economic, social, and political aspects. Some of these developments have indeed weakened the country’s institutional structures, making it difficult for social problems to be addressed adequately. This created conditions that facilitated corruption to entrench itself in the country’s powerful and political elite. The modern Chinese state emerged in the mid 20th century under the leadership of a revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong. Mao is an important figure in Chinese history having founded the country’s independence through the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. His Marxism-Leninism political ideologies as well as his leadership strategies are widely known as Maoism. After taking over leadership, he established a strong nation under the single party rule with himself at the center stage. He amerced great power and influence on the country’s destiny creating a form of cult of personality. He initiated various mass movements aimed at u8nifyinfg the country and defeating enemy groups such as property owners and capitalists. He initiated cultural reforms aimed at empowering the youths as future leaders of the nation. His reign, however, was characterized by dictatorship, class struggles and isolation of China from the international relations. Chinese political tradition has always focused on centralized power where an individual controls the bureaucratic system in the country. Political systems in the different dynasties ion ancient times to the modern day leadership always give more executive powers to individuals and few institutions. Such a system is prone to issues such as over-conformity, informality, inefficiency and corruption. This kind of leadership that focused on one person at the expense of strengthening institutions has had a big impact on present day development in the country. The post Mao era was characterized by protests, social unrests as his successors grappled with institutional, and leadership challenges. The main social and economic issues that emerged in the post Mao era include land rights, corruption, ethnicity, and unemployment. China also began opening up to the West and welcoming foreigners. The modern Chinese State has inherited all the ills of the previous regimes, which make it difficult to wipe out deep-rooted vices like corruption. Most of the Chinese believe in Confucianism, which promotes values such as obedience, morality, respect and order. Politicians, on the other hand, focus on socialist or Marxism-Leninism ideologies, which is anti-elitism and class struggles. Works Cited Fairbank, John King. China: A new history. London: Harvard University Press, 1992. Print. Gracie, Carrie, “China’s Corruption Campaign: On the Trail of Zhou Yongkang,” May 5th, 2014. BBC News China Blog, Online, Available at http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-27285486 Makinen, Julie, “In China, Corruption Cases Keep Cropping Up”, Los Angel’s Times, May 16th, 2014. Online. Available at http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-corruption-20140516-story.html Read More