SCIO briefing on the sixth plenum of the 18th CCDI
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 15, 2016
CNN:
In a speech President Xi Jinping made in the United Sates, he said that China's anti-corruption fight is not a "House of Cards"-style power struggle. However, as far as I know, the Party's top discipline inspector Wang Qishan is a big fan of the TV series of that name. Actually, in China and abroad, many people believe China's anti-corruption campaign is a political tool used by the current state leaders to suppress challengers and remove political obstacles. I also noticed that in some recent corruption cases involving high-ranking officials, there is a common charge: making groundless criticisms against the major work plans and policy decisions issued by the Central Committee. For some foreigners, this is hard to understand. What's Mr. Wu's opinion on this issue?
I have another question in relation to this one. You have discovered and punished so many corrupt officials on key posts, and fewer and fewer will be left. You have already turned your attention to "small tigers" and "big flies". What will be your guidelines, targets and focus in future?
Wu Yuliang:
There is a fundamental rule for all Party discipline inspectors: Party discipline must serve as the benchmark, and all judgments must be made on the basis of facts. Therefore, throughout, all the investigations we carried out on officials were based on facts, and involved solid proof. After investigation, all the officials have reflected on their behaviors and have expressed their regrets in written confessions. These officials violated the Party's principles and discipline. They also abandoned the beliefs central to being a Party member. They admitted the charges and accepted the penalties. The anti-corruption campaign has achieved positive social and political effects. About 91.5 percent of the Chinese people have expressed their satisfaction with us. For what? For the success in strengthening Party discipline and the unrelenting efforts we have made to fight corruption.
Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that China's anti-corruption campaign has no resemblance to what you see in the "House of Cards." Why do you continue doubting it? Is the campaign a power struggle or not? My answer is definitely "no," even though you seem to find it hard to understand. A TV series named the Legend of Miyue is popular in China currently. In the era of Miyue, who was supposed to have lived in the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC), there was an encyclopedic Chinese classic text called the Spring and Autumn Annals. In the book, there was a story about a man who suspected his neighbor of stealing his axe. The man thought the neighbor was guilty as his body language, facial expressions and speech all seemed suspicious. However, when he found the missing axe the next day, everything about the neighbor returned to normal. The man made the mistake because he formed his opinion without sufficient knowledge. The same is true with you. If you have a bias towards China, you will see things in a distorted way. This means that, in your eyes, an anti-corruption campaign illustrates the rule of law in your country but a power struggle in China, I think you have made the same mistake as the man in the story I have just related.
As for the focus of our future work, I have said in my opening speech that there are seven major tasks, including strengthening Party discipline. We will never stop fighting corruption. The top leadership is resolute, and the objective of containing corruption will not change. We will work tirelessly to oppose formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance. Corrupt officials will be punished regardless of their ranks, and the anti-corruption effort will be strengthened at grass-roots level. We will continue the inspection work and be strict in our own conduct. We will also promote legislative works to put the exercise of power under institutional checks. These measures will seek to ensure officials do not dare to be corrupt and are unable and unwilling to engage in corruption. We will carry on with this work, and you will find the details in our communiqué.
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