China's Political Development: Chinese and American Perspectives

Contributors

12 366 Building a Modern National Integrity System: Anticorruption and Checks and Balance of Power in China he฀zengke Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. The possibility of the abuse of power for private gain exists as long as the principal and the entrusted agent are kept separate. The prevention of abuse of public power cannot go without supervision of power and restrictions on that power. The supervision of power is the process by which the principal uses various means to supervise the agent to ensure that power is used as intended. The restriction of power is the process by which agents are entrusted with powers in such a way that they remain subordinate and subject to rigorous checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power. In the face of the corruption that has arisen during the process of China’s marketization and modernization since 1978, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government have sought to combat corruption by putting forward an anticorruption strategy that combats corruption from “six channels ” (六管齐下, liuguan qixia) and by building a corruption punishment and prevention system that attaches equal importance to education, supervision, and institutionalization. Put differently, the country has been constructing a national integrity system with Chinese characteristics. These efforts have met with some successes, but overall the successes have been limited owing in large part to the inherent defects of the existing “clean-government” system. Deepening political reform and giving full scope to the role of electoral accountability, the separation of powers, and checks and balances will substantially improve the effectiveness of China’s anticorruption efforts. 12-2535-0 chap12.indd 366 3/28/14 10:13 AM Building a Modern National Integrity System 367 Anticorruption since the Reform and Opening Up Over the more than sixty years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the anticorruption strategy of the CCP has gone through three stages. In the first thirty years of the People’s Republic, up until the reform and opening up began in 1978, the CCP combated corruption mainly by launching anticorruption mass movements. From 1949 until the eve of the 8th CCP National Congress in 1956, the CCP used three approaches: an ideological and educational campaign characterized by the rectification of the party and its work style, an anticorruption and antiwaste mass movement, and severe punishment of corrupt officials, especially those in high positions. From the convening of this congress until the Cultural Revolution was set into motion in 1966, tackling corruption by rectifying the party and its work style continued with the expansion of class struggle. From 1966 until the third plenary session of the 11th CCP National Congress in 1978, anticorruption efforts were guided by a leftist ideology and mainly took the form of mass political movements. From the beginning of the reform and opening up in 1978 to the 16th CCP National Congress in 2002, the party adopted the approach of institutionalization to combat corruption. Reflecting on the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping has said that although moral degradation is an important reason for corruption , an effective system plays a more fundamental role in determining whether corruption is curbed. He brought reform to the leadership system of the party and the state and favored anticorruption efforts that were based on the rule of law rather than mass movements. Jiang Zemin proposed anticorruption guidelines that featured the “treatment of both symptoms and root causes,” “integrated regulation,” “reliance on institutional reforms,” and “institutional innovation .”1 He also put in place the three major requirements of “cleanness and self-discipline of officials,” “prosecution of corrupt officials,” and “rectification of unwholesome tendencies.” Institutional reforms and innovation, ideological education, and moral self-discipline became China’s new important corruption prevention measures. Equal importance was also attached to corruption prevention and punishment. Since the 16th CCP National Congress, the CCP’s anticorruption strategy has gone a step further toward the establishment of a full-featured anticorruption system. Under Hu Jintao the CCP Central Committee adopted the clean government guideline of “fighting corruption in a comprehensive way, addressing both its symptoms and root causes, and combining punishment with prevention , with emphasis placed on prevention.”2 The committee also made the strategic decision to establish a corruption punishment and prevention system integrating education, supervision, and regulation, which extended the previous 12-2535-0 chap12.indd 367 3/28/14 10:13 AM 368 He...