China's corrupt officials have more to fear from jilted lover than crackdown
Lijia Zhang says the successful exposure of corrupt officials by their jilted lovers shows up Beijing's half-hearted approach to the problem
Chinese government officials, with their formal attire and serious talk, don't particularly strike one as sexually charged. Yet it seems that just about all corrupt officials in China have mistresses. So much so that there's now a popular saying: "Behind each corrupt official, there is a mistress."
When 26-year-old TV host Ji Yingnan exposed her relationship with her former lover Fan Yue, the married deputy director of the State Archives Administration, her internet posts of hundreds of photos showing their lavish lifestyle caused a sensation.
Ordinary Chinese, like everyone else, love a juicy sex scandal, especially one involving a corrupt official. Exposure always brings a kind of satisfaction, given that the embezzled money comes from public funds.
These mistresses are just the modern version of concubines. In China, a woman having an affair is increasingly known as a - "little third", a belittling term since she is usually much younger than her patron. At a time when the income gap is widening, such mistresses are despised.
China's political system is a breeding ground for corruption and keeping a is just one of the pleasures corrupt officials indulge in. However, these young lovers can be a time bomb. There has been a string of high-profile cases where corrupt officials were brought down by their jilted mistresses.
Just last month, Wang Suyi , the former head of the United Front Work Department in Inner Mongolia, was sacked after his mistress was one of several to report the misconduct of their former lovers to the media.
The relationship between a corrupt official and his can easily turn sour, given that their relationship is usually based on money rather than love and trust. And these dissatisfied women now have the weapon to let out their anger and frustration: the internet.
Soon after taking office, President Xi Jinping launched a vigorous campaign to catch corrupt officials at all levels, both "tigers and flies". According to government figures, 2,290 officials have been disciplined so far. But they are mostly "flies" - low- and middle-level officials.
In fact, one could say that jilted mistresses have proved more effective in combating corruption, a social cancer that is threatening the country's stability. I don't doubt Xi's good intentions, but to tackle the problem, the system needs to open up, with fair competition, supervision and transparency. And the media needs the freedom to play its supervisory role properly.
Yet control on the media seems to be tightening, while there has been a crackdown against activists pushing for greater government transparency.
Today, one-party rule feels like a sick person who has numerous serious diseases. To cure itself, it needs a strong dose of medicine. Yet the Communist Party seems to be afraid that the medicine may hurt too much.
Fan is believed to be under investigation. His fate will probably follow those of others who indulged in greed and lust. But his disgrace is unlikely to deter other officials; the cancer of corruption will continue to spread and with it will come more sex scandals.
