[ad_1]
But arresting individual bad apples will do little to address the systemic problems that give rise to corruption.
China’s corruption problem is closely tied to the government’s role in the economy, which gives officials enormous influence over key resources such as land, loans and licenses. This can tempt officials to sell favors to businessmen or collude with state-owned enterprises to suppress private sector competitors.
These problems are exacerbated by cultural norms of “guanxi,” which emphasize cultivating relationships with those in power in order to advance.
A global phenomenon with Chinese characteristics
China is not alone when it comes to corruption. The United Nations estimates that corruption globally causes a loss of more than 5% of global GDP. The report says that of the approximately $13 trillion in public spending worldwide, up to 25% is lost to corruption.
While corruption is a global phenomenon, Xi’s sudden purge of top officials has raised questions about the stability of China’s governance.
As Associate Professor Wu Xiaohui, an expert on Chinese politics at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said in a media report: “Xi Jinping claims that China’s governance model can be an alternative to the US-led world order, but when they keep suddenly replacing senior officials, which country is willing to learn this from China?”
In addition, China has shown the world that its anti-corruption campaign has truly gone global.
In 2023, two former executives of the state-owned China Railway Tunnel Group were sentenced to prison and fined for bribing Singaporean official Henry Fook Wing Tai, a former deputy group director of the Land Transport Authority. It was the first time China had convicted one of its citizens for bribing a foreign official.
If China’s anti-corruption efforts are to succeed in the long run, the incentive mechanism for local officials to engage in corruption must be completely overturned.
From an economic perspective, this means raising public sector wages to reduce the need for predatory exploitation. In 2015, the government announced a plan to increase public servants’ salaries by an average of 60% over the next few years. However, the plan has been unevenly implemented across regions and sectors.
[ad_2]
Source link
