Corruption is a byproduct of Chinese party-state's defective genes

At the Chinese Communist Party's 18th National Congress in November last year, outgoing president Hu Jintao warned that corruption could lead to "the collapse of the party and the downfall of the state".

The scale of corruption is significant, with the People's Bank of China reporting that between 1994 and 2008, up to 18,000 corrupt officials fled the country, taking with them an estimated 800 billion yuan (HK$1 trillion) in plundered assets. The costs of domestic public order have also grown rapidly, in part over concerns about corruption and the need for weiwen - "maintaining stability".

Since taking over, President Xi Jinping has intensified the party's fight against corruption, vowing to crack down on both "tigers" and "flies". So far, the most high-ranking "tiger" to fall is Bo Xilai , the former Chongqing party chief. Bo's fall became China's foremost political scandal since the 1989 purge of Zhao Ziyang and eclipsed that of former minister for railways Liu Zhijun , who was arrested after the 2011 Wenzhou train collision.

As part of his "Chongqing model", Bo launched the "sing red" campaign promoting "red" culture, and the "smash black" campaign cracking down on organised crime. The "strike black" campaign was condemned because it used torture and falsified evidence against political enemies as well as criminals. Furthermore, Bo's charismatic leadership style and his close ties to the People's Liberation Army presented a challenge to China's collective leadership system which discourages "cults" of personality.

The trigger for the scandal was the personal dispute between Bo and his police chief Wang Lijun over the involvement of Bo's wife, Gu Kailai , in the murder of a British businessman. Wang fled to the US consulate in Chengdu but his request for political asylum was denied. The incident led to an investigation of Bo's family and associates, and Bo was removed from his party posts soon after. Wang was later sentenced to 15 years in prison for abuse of power and bribery, among other crimes. A year later, Bo was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking 20 million yuan in bribes, embezzlement of 5 million yuan and abuse of power.

The party leadership depicted the case as a simple criminal matter. The People's Daily editorialised that "the resolute punishment of Bo Xilai according to law has fully shown that there are no exceptions in the face of party discipline and state laws". Yet concerns over the Bo family's financial associations and the full extent of his corruption remain unaddressed.

Bo's trial showed how corrupt officials achieved promotion without fear of investigation. This link between corruption and promotion originates from China's bureaucratic culture. Political factions usually form around senior officials' guanxi or interpersonal networks.