Chinahas strengthened its efforts in cracking down on corruption after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2012, where a “zero tolerance” policy toward violators was adopted. In December 2013 alone, eight provincial- and ministerial-level officials were investigated for alleged discipline violations, according to Cao Jianming, Procurator General ofChina’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

On the evening of February 18, 2014, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection stated on its website that Ji Wenlin, then Vice Governor of southChina’s Hainan Province, was being probed for suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations. Scarcely 14 hours later, Zhu Zuoli, then Vice Chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), was being investigated under the same allegation.

During the Second Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, held from March 5 to 13 in Beijing, and the Second Session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee, China’s top political advisory body, the topic of the anti-corruption campaign was debated by NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members.ChinAfricaspoke to some of them about how to advance the nation’s anti-corruption efforts. Edited excerpts of their views follow:

Hao Shusheng

CPPCC National Committee Member, Director of the Institute of History Studies with the Gansu Academy of Social Sciences

The government has been highly praised by the public due to its performance in the face of disasters and emergencies, as well as a series of policies adopted for improving people’s livelihood. However, administration by law and transparency in policy-making are generally the subjects of criticism. Most notably, because of corruption among some officials, the government’s credibility is being undermined.

I suggest greater priority be given to establishing a clean government and strengthening its credibility and administration capability. Besides, administration by law should be guaranteed by established and institutionalized systems. There should also be practical measures taken to help officials and civil servants to be more law-abiding and disciplined of their own accord.

The Internet, via social media, can play a greater role in supervising the government, as it is an efficient platform for the public to learn what the government is doing and expose corruption. The public’s right to know, to participate, to express and to supervise can be better realized through this platform.

Admittedly, it [social media] is sometimes abused by people venting personal vendettas. Some corruption exposure has proved to be false and an infringement on people’s privacy. But as an emerging method for the public to better exert their rights to monitor [corruption], it should be improved by strengthening supervision. An accountability system with which those who abuse the right to expression can be traced and punished should be established, so as to put online monitoring under regulation of law.

Hou Xinyi

CPPCC National Committee Member, Professor of Nankai University Law School

During the anti-corruption campaign, many officials who break laws and the Party’s discipline are investigated and punished, deterring others from abusing power and getting corrupted. To root out the problem, a prevention and guarantee mechanism should be set up to ensure people do not, and are not able to, carry out corrupt activities. With some local governments not being well aware of their responsibilities and boundaries of authority, some powers are abused, undermining the government’s administration capability. 

To fundamentally destroy corruption, power should be better restricted. Also, the relationship between the Central Government and local governments, government and the market, and government and society should be straightened out, so that the chances of abuse of power can be reduced. Power abuse is always driven by profits. If some departments and officials take advantage of their power for personal gain, corruption is inevitable. To avoid this, more government power should be delegated to the market.

Besides, monitoring through public opinion can play a better role in regard to advancing governments to be clean. Institutions vital to the rule of law should be established as soon as possible to guarantee the government’s administration by the law.

Moreover, prevention mechanisms, such as a property reporting system for officials, are needed. And to increase transparency of the government’s budget, I suggest detailing the budget to elaborate on what the expenditure is used for. For example, when a local government plans to build a new stadium, it should specify the location, the size and cost in the budget. Opinions are then solicited on public whether there is a need for such a stadium. In this way, the budget is not only more transparent, but also easier to understand by the public.

Chen Xu

NPC Deputy, Chief Procurator of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Procuratorate

The responsibilities, working procedures and approaches ofChina’s anti-corruption organs are still not institutionalized due to lack of a comprehensive anti-corruption law. There should be such a law to guarantee the independence and authority of the anti-corruption organs, like the people’s procuratorates and commissions for discipline inspection of the CPC at all levels, so that they can observe their legal obligations.

As anti-corruption organs,China’s procuratorates are hierarchically classified as the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, provincial, municipal and county-level ones, resulting in anti-corruption strengths and efforts dispersed at all levels. I suggest the anti-corruption organs at city and county levels be canceled to centralize the efforts on fighting corruption and increase the professionalism of the organs that are kept. With such an integrated institution, there will be enough personnel for the oversight of specific professional areas. For example, some are supposed to supervise departments in charge of financing, while others of real estate.

The definition of bribery should also be updated. Previously, bribery mainly referred to accepting money and valuable items. In reality, officials are offered jobs, educational opportunities, share options and even sexual bribes. As there is no specific stipulation about these, the law should be updated to include these newly-emerged illegal activities.

Chen Jingying

NPC Deputy, member of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, Dean of the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics Law School

The anti-corruption campaign should be reinforced and institutionalized duringChina’s efforts to deepen reforms. I also suggest the monitoring of corruption be made more timely. In some foreign countries, for those who expect to run for congress seats, they have to first disclose their property.Chinacan borrow from this experience to require officials to report their property before a promotion. It will not only effectively prevent corruption, but is also a protection mechanism for officials.