CCP leader says 5 million party members under investigation for corruption

China’s ruling Communist Party says it has investigated nearly 5 million party members for possible corruption over the past decade, with 553 formally brought criminal charges.

Whether this will stem the widening slowdown and restore confidence in the authoritarian system is unclear.

The party, which has 96 million members, has long run its own internal system to keep cadres in order by offering privileges and threatening severe punishment by taking bribes, selling offices or otherwise abusing their power.

During a briefing on the sidelines of the party’s national congress, which is held every five years, Xiao Pei, the party’s deputy secretary for discipline inspection, said that in the 10 years since then, a total of 207,000 party cadres have been subjected to some form of punishment. punish. Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power.

Xi Jinping has made fighting corruption a hallmark of his administration as he seeks a third term as party, government and army general secretary.

Mr Xiao said most of those caught by anti-graft investigators were long-term offenders, while only 11 per cent of those punished were first-time offenders in the past five years.

“The spread of corruption has been resolutely curbed,” Mr. Xiao said, adding that “policy orientation and high pressure” had persuaded 80,000 party members to voluntarily admit to illegal acts over the past five years.

The anti-corruption drive, one of Mr. Xi’s main policies, has largely been popular with the public and has allowed him to easily crowd out potential rivals.

Last month, a former justice minister and a former deputy public security minister received suspended death sentences after being convicted on various charges of bribery and other abuse of power.

Chinese courts are accountable to the party, and the guilt rate is close to 100 percent. Even senior government and military officials can face long prison terms after being investigated internally and expelled from the party, although the death penalty has become more rare in high-profile cases.

Speaking at the opening of the party congress on Sunday, Xi, 69, reaffirmed the party’s full control over China’s politics, economy and society.

“The next five years are critical,” the Chinese president said in a televised address to some 2,000 delegates in the huge Great Hall of the People.

He has repeatedly invoked the slogan of “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” which includes restoring the party’s role as an economic and social leader, returning to what Xi Jinping sees as a golden age after he took power in 1949.

The assembly will appoint leaders for the next five years. Xi Jinping is expected to break with tradition by granting himself a third five-year term as party general secretary and promoting allies who share his ideals.

Xi Jinping has his own experience with the caprices of justice within the party.

His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a former deputy prime minister and guerrilla commander in the civil war when Mao Zedong came to power in 1949.

Just a few years later, Xi Jinping was detained because Mao Zedong betrayed his former comrades, and Xi Jinping was kicked out of his home during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, which sent intellectuals into exile in the countryside, where many were publicly humiliated and brutalized for Beatings in the name of class struggle.

Mr. Xi later attended Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University and rose steadily through provincial bureaucracies, rising to the top job of party secretary — the top job — in Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial hub, in 2007 after his predecessor was embroiled in a corruption scandal.

He took control of economic and military affairs, and by mentioning his ideology, his name was included in the party constitution along with Mao Zedong.

“Xi Jinping Thought” emphasizes reinvigorating the party’s mission as China’s political, economic, social, and cultural leader and its central role in achieving the goal of “national rejuvenation,” which is to restore the country’s prominence to the world.

The president has pushed for a more assertive foreign policy and dismissed concerns that the economy has been hit hard by the pandemic’s constraints and the administration’s crackdown on rising real estate debt.

The economy looks set to grow by only about half the official target of 5.5% this year, while unemployment among recent college graduates is rising to unprecedented levels.

Despite the drag on the economy, the government is sticking to a policy dubbed “zero outbreaks” that calls for lockdowns, travel restrictions and nearly daily testing. As Covid-19 ravaged the rest of the world, the early approach was seen as a success.

While dissatisfaction is brewing, especially as life returns to normal in the rest of the world, most are afraid to speak out, and Xi has said there are no upcoming changes on health policy and other major issues.