When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he pledged to root out corruption throughout the ranks of the Communist Party. More than a decade later, the pace of research has not slowed. Last year, China’s disciplinary authorities opened investigations into more than 1 million people, including more than 100 officials at ministerial or provincial level or above. As Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials begin an important meeting this week, discipline – and loyalty to the party – is high on the agenda. For those trying to read the tea leaves of Chinese elite politics, concerns about the apparent lack of discipline are dominating CCP discussions. The “fifth plenum” began on Monday and will focus on “important issues to promote the party’s full and rigorous self-government,” according to Chinese state media. In party language, “governance” is synonymous with discipline, loyalty and anti-corruption. As Xi continues to crack down on corruption, the fact that investigations almost always result in a conviction raises the question of whether the targets are actually guilty of corruption or are simply political rivals of the people in charge. Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, explained that in Xi’s worldview, which is obsessed with discipline and loyalty, there may not be much difference between the two. “If you’re corrupt, you’re not politically loyal. If you’re politically loyal, you’re not corrupt,” Brown said. He added that in the PCC system, “corruption is not only material things,” but also “spiritual corruption,” which includes political disloyalty. 1.4 billion people. Neil Thomas, a member of the Asia Society think tank, said: “Xi has made the party less corrupt and strengthened its control, but he knows that harsher punishment cannot fully solve the problem of officials who put their own interests before those of the party. Xi Jinping at a meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last week. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock “Xi’s response is to continue tightening discipline, making fighting corruption a permanent method of governing. “The work may be endless, but the plenum is an opportunity to refocus the party’s energy on discipline. The fifth plenum is the fifth of seven meetings that normally occur in each five-year cycle between CCP congresses. The plenums bring together more than 300 members of the CCP Central Committee, the highest officials in the party hierarchy. The meeting is particularly significant because it is likely to be the last substantive meeting before next year, a new Central Committee will be elected and Xi is expected to be anointed for a fourth term as CCP chief. Removing anyone who poses a risk to his authority or the party’s credibility is a key priority for Xi. And nearly 15 years after Xi took office, the problem has yet to be eliminated. [Xi’s] “Everyone else is corrupt.” In the past, Xi has warned that the party could “lose its ruling status and inevitably be eliminated by history” if it failed to put its house in order. “This is in no way an exaggeration,” he said. The current focus on party governance comes amid a series of high-profile investigations against senior military and party leaders. expelled from the party last month, after being removed from the army’s top ruling body, the Central Military Commission (CMC). A series of other purges mean that the CMC, which normally has seven members, has been reduced to just two: Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the CMC’s chief disciplinarian. Other recent scalps include Ma Xingrui, former party secretary for Xinjiang, and Huang Qifan, former mayor of Chongqing. The scandals of the early 2010s in which Xi’s political rival, Bo Xilai, former Party chief in Chongqing, was involved in the death of British businessman Neil Heywood, was eventually found guilty of bribery and embezzlement, for which he is serving a life sentence, but Huang no longer survived. Xi is likely to see it differently. Corruption investigations show who is in charge. Furthermore, Brown added, they are “the easiest and most natural tool to impose unity and discipline.”
