It's the largest number of high-ranking officials to be
dealt with in a single year.
Unlike previous approaches featuring high-pitch
propaganda once a high-ranking official was caught, which was thought to display
the government's determination in fighting corruption and serve as a warning to
others, these cases were dealt with in a comparatively low
profile.
But with such a list in hand, the seriousness of the
situation facing the Communist Party of China and the government to eliminate
the malicious tumour from their bodies is beyond any doubt.
While on one hand the list of 13 officials attests to the
great achievement in anti-corruption work this year, on the other hand it points
to the harsh reality that corruption is still rampant.
It is far from claiming a triumph, nor a time to
celebrate, but a critical moment to map out steps next and carry on the
anti-corruption crusade more forcefully.
A relaxed sense of self-discipline should be blamed for
these officials?fallout, but deficiency in the system and relevant rules and
regulations proves to be the weakest link in preventing officials from going
wrong.
The country is still in the transition phase with a
highly-efficient market economic system not yet established, so loopholes in
rules and regulations leave much room for trading power for
money.
The systemic deficiency in fields of State enterprise
reform, financial work, project contracting and transfer of land use rights, for
example, has nourished a large number of corruption cases.
The government is apparently in full awareness of this.
While unrelentingly dealing with corrupt officials, greater efforts have been
inserted into systemic improvement. New measures have continued to be introduced
into the above-mentioned fields to plug loopholes.
Just days ago, a thorough check was conducted into the
land transfer cases nationwide and those in violation of laws were exposed and
punished.
System building is not an overnight job. Today corruption
still ignites fierce public complaints and ruins the image of the Party and the
government, but optimism should be retained since steps are being taken in the
right direction.
(China Daily)
