Jinping Suggests Ways to Fight Corruption
Michael Olugbode in Beijing
The Chinese President, Mr. Xi Jinping, has offered steps that would yield victory in the fight against corruption.
Jinping, who presented a report yesterday in Beijing titled “Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects,” to the 20th National Congress of the Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said: “Corruption is a cancer to the vitality and ability of the party, and fighting corruption is the most thorough kind of self-reform there is.”
He added that “as long as the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption still exist, we must keep sounding the bugle and never rest, not even for a minute, in our fight against corruption.”
Jinping, who is expected to be re-elected for the third term as both the Secretary General of the CPC and the President of China during the one-week long congress, said: “We will continue to take simultaneous, coordinated, and comprehensive steps to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to become corrupt.
“We must show zero tolerance in opposing corruption and punishing wrongdoing, and we must take more forceful action to both prevent new cases and root out existing ones.
“We will come down hard on corruption that involves both political and economic elements, resolutely prevent leading officials from acting for any interest group or power group and crack down on any collusion between officials and businesspeople that undermines the political ecosystem or economic development.”
The Chinese President added that “here must be no mercy for corruption. We will intensify efforts to uproot corruption in sectors with a high concentration of power, funds, and resources. Firm action will be taken to swat “flies,” or corrupt low-ranking officials, whose misconduct directly affects people’s lives.
“We will strictly investigate and handle cases of corruption where leading officials’ spouses, children, children’s spouses, other relatives or staff uses their influence to seek personal gain. We will punish both bribe takers and givers and combat new and disguised forms of corruption.
“We will deepen international cooperation to combat corruption and establish an integrated mechanism for pursuing fugitives, preventing escape, and retrieving stolen assets.”
He further stated that “to address both the symptoms and root causes of corruption, we will advance national anti-corruption legislation and promote a culture of integrity in the new era. We will provide education and guidance aimed at strengthening the vigilance of party members and officials so that they have no desire to engage in corruption and so they live and work with honesty and integrity.
“We will closely integrate and coordinate harsh punishment, regulation continually over the exercise of power, and education and guidance, so as to secure more institutional achievements and greater efficiency in fighting corruption.”
Jinping said that he would continue to collaborate with other economies to build even stronger Chinese economy.
He said: “We will leverage the strengths of China’s enormous market, attract global resources and production factors with our strong domestic economy, and amplify the interplay between domestic and international markets and resources. This will position us to improve the level and quality of trade and investment cooperation.
“We will steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards. We will upgrade trade in goods, develop new mechanisms for trade in services, and promote digital trade, in order to accelerate China’s transformation into a trader of quality.
“We will make appropriate reductions to the negative list for foreign investment, protect the rights and interests of foreign investors in accordance with the law, and foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalised.
“We will promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. We will better plan regional opening up, consolidate the leading position of eastern coastal areas in opening up, and more widely open the central, western, and northeastern regions.
“We will accelerate the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in the western region. We will work faster to develop the Hainan Free Trade Port, upgrade pilot free trade zones, and expand the globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas.”
He added that “we will promote the internationalization of the RMB in an orderly way, deeply involve ourselves in the global industrial division of labor and cooperation, and endeavor to preserve the diversity and stability of the international economic landscape and economic and trade relations.”
