More Details about Anti-corruption Politics in China
Someone at Harris & Moure, the law firm that sponsors the China Law Blog, asked in a comment here whether any non-Chinese companies will be implicated in the Shanghai scandals and recommended the Newsweek article on the politics of anti-corruption in China.Someone (the same someone?) from China Law Blog wrote, "I do not know enough about the intricacies of Chinese politics to know if all of the facts and conclusions in the article are accurate, but I know enough about communist and oligarchical politics in general to know that the various scenarios are eminently plausible.
"I recommend this article for those wanting both an excellent overview of the Shanghai scandal and for those wanting more in depth reporting on its potential repercussions."
I don't know if I know more "about the intricacies of Chinese politics," but I second the recommendation of the Newsweek article.
The Newsweek article is
Beijing Battle, The ouster of Shanghai's powerful party chief may be the first salvo in the battle for supremacy among the next generation of Chinese leaders...
"The era of strongman politics and epic ideological clashes—under Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and, to some extent, even Jiang—is over, replaced by something more like high-stakes risk management. The main threat to the Communist Party's hold on power has shifted increasingly from party power tussles to government policy...
"'Even during Tiananmen, [tension] was still mainly within the party,' says the party editor. 'Now it's external.'...
"At the same time, a major generational shift has begun at the top levels of the regime. China's so-called fourth generation of leaders, led by Hu and Wen, will soon make way for the fifth generation—meaning party leaders in their mid-40s to mid-50s. None of the fifth generation is in the Politburo at the moment, which means Hu could elevate his chosen successor straight from a provincial post into the Standing Committee (as Deng Xiaoping did with him in 1992).
"Who is Hu's favorite? There isn't just one. In fact, he appears to be grooming many protégés from the tuan pai—the Communist Youth League network...
"In general, fifth-generation Chinese leaders are seen as savvier and more open-minded than their elders, especially on the international stage. 'These younger party leaders are modest, more practical and reluctant to argue with others,' says Mao Shoulong, a professor of public administration at Renmin University in Beijing. 'They don't try to put on airs.' Even though some, as students, were packed off to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, they have served almost entirely in an age of economic reform. So they might not prove as instinctively hamstrung by ideological taboos...
"The Shanghai corruption crackdown provides clues on what to expect from Hu's second term... Hu aims to put together a vast social-security fund—'lifesaving money,' as China's state media call it... But Hu's economic populism doesn't mean that he's a progressive... he's not likely to take any significant steps toward true political reform... Indeed, as part of the latest CCP rectification campaign, according to the party editor, cadres are being rounded up to watch a lengthy agitprop television series documenting how the Soviet Union collapsed.
"Will Hu's powerful patronage enable his successors to venture further? In an intimate and unusually candid lunch... a senior Chinese official of the fifth generation carped that the country desperately needs 'political reform to go along with economic development...'"
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:26 PM
2 Comments:
The New York Time's Joseph Kahn is following the lead of earlier stories and placing Chinese anti-corruption news in a political context.
Kahn offers a few new detailed speculations about the players and the extent of the political struggle, including a profile of Vice President Zeng Qinghong, the lead man in Hu Jintao's anti-corruption campaign.
Kahn notes that Zeng, the "son of one of Mao’s first security chiefs... maintains close ties to the sons and daughters of Communist China’s founding fathers and has relatives in the military. He has supporters among those who favor deeper capitalist-style changes to the economy and financial system."
In Graft Inquiry, Chinese See a Shake-Up
"When Shanghai’s party boss was detained in an anticorruption probe last week, Chinese were rattled by news of the first purge of a high-ranking Communist Party leader since 1995. But the investigation’s scope and its ultimate goals are wider, as the party’s two most powerful officials aim to shake up the leadership and wipe out resistance to their policy agenda, party officials and analysts say..."
On October 23, this BBC item added details to the Shanghai corruption/politics situation.
Shanghai scandal 'implicates 50'
"More than 50 people have been detained in Shanghai's widening pension fund corruption scandal, a Beijing-funded Hong Kong newspaper has reported.
"Several senior Shanghai officials and businessmen have already been implicated in the alleged misuse of the multi-million dollar fund.
"One of the country's richest men, Zhang Rongkun, was arrested at the weekend.
"On Sunday, President Hu Jintao said the Communist Party was determined to root out corruption...
"The corruption scandal demonstrates the problems facing those who wish to end graft in China, our correspondent says.
"The courts do not operate independently and almost all of those detained in Shanghai have not been seen or heard of since, he adds.
"There is little independent oversight. Auditors and corruption investigators are limited and the usual checks and balances that expose corruption - such as a free press and regular open elections - do not exist."
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