Xi Jinping calls for crackdown on ‘political crooks’ at meeting of top graft-busters
- Harsh measures urged for those who claim to be well-connected and able to advance the careers of others for business favours and money
- President also tells CCDI to take a more balanced approach of ‘discipline and encouragement’ with equal emphasis on ‘incentives and constraints’
“[We must] further improve the laws and regulations targeting bribery and improve the joint punishment mechanism for those offering bribes,” Xi was quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua.
He told the second plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the top anti-corruption agency – that they should “harshly crack down on political crooks with so-called backgrounds”.
The term “political crooks” in the official Chinese narrative usually refers to officials or businessmen who claim to be well-connected and able to advance the careers of others for business favours and money.
The documentary named Fu’s long-time colleague Shi Xiaochun as an example, saying Shi had boasted about his “special connections” that could help Fu get promoted. But it turned out that Shi did not have connections and he had used Fu to take huge bribes from others, according to the documentary, part of a series on CCTV.
It said Fu was also exploited for more than two decades by another “political crook”, Li Quan, who claimed to be a policy adviser to senior leaders. Fu had helped Li to get property projects and resolve business disputes and had also helped one of Li’s relatives to get a lucrative job in a bank, according to the documentary.
In his speech, Xi urged the graft-busters to take a more balanced approach that combines “discipline and encouragement”. He said equal emphasis should be placed on “incentives and constraints” to encourage “enthusiasm, initiative and creativity” among party members and officials.
How political and economic pressure led to Beijing’s zero-Covid U-turn
Xie Maosong, a senior fellow with the Taihe Institute and a senior researcher at Tsinghua University’s National Institute of Strategic Studies, said Xi’s message suggested he was seeking to “recalibrate the party to pro-growth mode”.
“With China reopening to the world [after abandoning zero-Covid], the party has made it very clear that this year’s top priority is achieving high-quality growth,” Xie said. “That is a target for all party apparatus, including the disciplinary agencies.”
