OpinionChina can best tackle corruption with a sunshine law
Hu Shuli says the government should turn its resolve into action - by enacting legislation to force officials to disclose their income and assets
A new resolve to crack down on corruption is in the air. Since the 18th Communist Party congress, a number of senior officials have been accused of corruption and sacked. This includes the Sichuan deputy party secretary Li Chuncheng , who was promoted only last month to be a non-voting member of the party's Central Committee. An anti-corruption campaign led by web users is also gaining support. The government's zero-tolerance attitude is winning praise, and it should seize the momentum to systematise its clean-up.
The corruption cancer affects the whole world, but it is particularly serious in China. As party leaders have often conceded, corruption is endemic and tackling it is a huge challenge. But the scale of the problem also means improvements are within easy reach: China could simply adopt some of the basic practices that have proved useful elsewhere. In particular, it should institute a sunshine law that requires officials to disclose their wealth.
Such a law is not hard to enforce; all that's needed is political will. As many as 137 countries already have such a law, according to the World Bank. Just this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said all government officials, from himself and the prime minister down, and their family members would have to declare their spending.
China has considered requiring party officials to disclose their assets since the 1980s. The proposal was introduced in 1995, and has gone through four revisions, the latest one in 2010. However, the requirements have remained regulations set by the Central Committee and the State Council, and the disclosure will circulate only within the party. Some 20 cities have also experimented with introducing such rules since 2009, but they can't go far without full government support.
The introduction of a sunshine law enjoys wide public approval, and would be a major step forward in the fight against corruption. The government must put it on the legislative agenda of the National People's Congress.
Corruption is an outcome of the unholy mix of power and money. The proper exercise of power is the key to curbing corruption. In a society governed by the rule of law, a gain in political power does not - and should not - come with a gain in wealth. But that is not how it is in China; power and money have become inextricably linked in its bureaucratic culture.
China set out in the 1990s to build a socialist market economy, but the transition has been slow. The government's heavy hand in the market created many opportunities for rent-seeking. Meanwhile, political reforms have dragged on, and there is little oversight of office-holders. Inevitably corruption has grown rife, exacerbated by globalisation.