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Caging Tigers, Swatting Flies—And More: China’s Anti-corruption Body Probes Loyalty, Commitment

| Oct 27, 2016 11:17 PM EDT

Xi Jinping attends the closing session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 17, 2013 as newly elected president.

Who’s afraid of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection?

Corrupt “tigers” or top government and military officials and “flies” or the low-ranking ones should be--or else face expulsion, even be sentenced to suffer life imprisonment.

Those who display diminished loyalty or declining support to the president and his agenda might consider reassessing their actions or be disciplined as well by CCDI, reported The New York Times.

The country’s anti-corruption agency could perhaps been the busiest one since President Xi Jinping vowed to resolve corruption.

CCDI now also acts as a “political inquisitor,” checking on the cadres concerning their commitment and loyalty to the president and to his programs.

This month, investigators slapped severe criticisms on the faces of senior ministry officials assembled at the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing. The reprimanded officials were found lacking in “political judgment.”

“Loyalty to the party is the top political imperative,” said Guo Shengkun, the public security minister, quoted The New York Times.

Guo said that he would ensure that the obedience of his officers to Xi would not waver.

With a more powerful Xi carrying on with his battle against corruption--he assumed the status of “core” leader on Thursday during the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee meeting in Beijing--CCDI could be expected to work doubly harder as a disciplinarian and as the president’s principal political enforcer.

Combating Corruption through the Years

Prior to his ascendancy as president in 2013, Xi made clear of his intent to fight corruption from top to bottom.

“We must . . . punish every corrupt official and constantly eradicate the soil which breeds corruption,” said the president as quoted by Xinhua.

“No exception . . . no leniency . . . no one can enjoy absolute power outside of the law.”

In 2015 alone, China’s crackdown on corruption led to the punishment of approximately 300,000 officials, reported Fortune. In the previous years, their number reached 400,000.

By the end of August 2014, CCDI probed on 74,333 party members, according to South China Morning Post.

On November 2014, SCMP reported that the top five places with the most number of graft-related cases were Guangdong, involving two senior officials (“tigers”) and 63 middle and low-ranking officials (“flies”), Beijing (12 “tigers,” 33 “flies”); Hubei (two “tigers,” 41 “flies”); Sichuan (three “tigers,” 37 “flies”) and a tie between Henan (one “tiger,” 35 “flies”) and Shanxi (seven “tigers,” 29 “flies”).

Based from the 2003-2010 survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, 83.8 percent of Chinese believed that corruption diminished in the country, reported Xinhua.

From 2003 to 2009, “more than 240,000 cases of embezzlement, bribery, dereliction of duty and infringements on rights” were filed for investigation by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, according to “White Paper on China’s Efforts to Combat Corruption and Build a Clean Government” issued by the Information Office of the State Council on December 2010.

The white paper also revealed that from 2005-2009, over 69,200 cases of commercial bribery were acted upon by the government.

Broadcasting Corruption

It seems the anti-corruption campaign of the government takes a cinematic approach.

A TV documentary being aired by state broadcaster China Central Television and an upcoming drama series both touch on the subject of corruption.

CCDI’s Publicity Department partnered with CCTV to produce “Always on the Road,” an eight-part docu-series featuring disgraced public officials talking about their corrupt practices, reported Shanghaiist.

Former party chiefs Bai Enpei (Yunnan, Qinghai), Li Chuncheng (Sichuan, Chengdu) and Zhou Benshun (Hebei) appeared on the first episode titled, “Feelings of the People” aired on Oct. 17.

“I remember realizing I wanted a life like theirs [ultra-rich businessmen], and that was when my thinking changed,” said Bai, quoted Sixth Tone.

One guest on the show said that Zhang Huiqing, like her husband Bai, accepted bribes, with one in the form of a 15-million yuan jade bracelet. Zhang served as a manager of Kunming-based Yunnan Power Grid.

The 42-episode TV series “In the Name of the People” will promote “Xi’s anti-graft campaign,” said Ying Zhu, a professor at the City University of New York’s Department of Media Culture, according to China Film Insider.

The “upright anti-corruption drama,” as described by Ying, will be shown at the end of the year.

Zhang Fengyi (“The Empress of China,” “Red Cliff”) and Lu Yi (“Love Yunge from the Desert,” “Fighting”) will lead the cast of the 120-million-yuan government-produced TV show.

“The prospect of combating corruption and building a clean government in China is bright,” according to the concluding statements of the 2010 white report.

Nearly six years after, the allure of material wealth still proves to be brighter for some Chinese officials, so the war against corruption continues.

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