BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping indicated that an anti-graft campaign that has already ensnared 4.7 million officials will continue well into his third term, focusing over the coming year on areas where power, money and resources are concentrated.
A meeting of the 24-member Politburo chaired by Mr Xi on Tuesday determined that the country has achieved an “overwhelming victory” in its battle against corruption, but the work is still “far from over”, according to Xinhua news agency.
The government will keep its stringent measures against graft in place “in the long run” to prevent any rebound of the problem, Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
The comments by the Politburo reinforce the high priority Mr Xi has placed on addressing corruption during his decade in power. The effort wins public support for cleaning up government after years of rampant graft while also eliminating potential rivals to Mr Xi and his allies.
The latest pledge comes after a twice-a-decade Communist Party of China (CPC) congress in October allowed Mr Xi to pack top decision-making bodies like the Politburo with his supporters, while sidelining figures such as Mr Hu Chunhua, once seen as a potential successor. China did away with presidential term limits in 2018, paving the way for Mr Xi to lead the world’s No. 2 economy indefinitely.
Earlier this year, the country’s top anti-graft agency busted what it called a “political clique” led by former police official Sun Lijun, who was sentenced to what amounts to life in prison for taking 646 million yuan (S$126 million) worth of bribes and other crimes.
Sun was accused of “cultivating personal power and forming an interest group”, phrasing that could be read as a sign they posed a threat to Mr Xi’s power. Two other people associated with the group – former justice minister Fu Zhenghua and Wang Like, who was a senior official in Jiangsu – were similarly given suspended death sentences.
Mr Xi’s campaign has also targeted the US$58 trillion financial system and the semiconductor industry, as the leadership became frustrated with failures in efforts to boost self-reliance in high-end chip production.
In November, central bank governor Fan Yifei, 58, was placed under investigation, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the CPC’s top graft buster, said. The drive has also breached the private sector, with the party expelling an official over corruption charges relating to the “disorderly expansion of capital”.
Zhou Jiangyong, former party secretary of Hangzhou – the base of Alibaba Group – was ousted in January for serious violations of official duties, taking bribes and abuse of power, according to the CCDI. BLOOMBERG
