Recently, various local discipline inspection commissions and supervisory commissions in China have reported a noticeable increase in cases of officials “voluntarily turning themselves in.” Insiders within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) system disclosed that since April, at the provincial level, there has been an internal crackdown on officials at the city and county levels to compel corrupt officials to surrender. However, analysts believe that the large number of corrupt officials voluntarily surrendering reflects the systemic corruption within the CCP that is difficult to eradicate through anti-corruption campaigns.
In recent times, many officials who have voluntarily surrendered in various regions of China have long held local government positions. On June 8th, the Anhui Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission announced that Du Yan’an, a member of the Party group of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People’s Congress and the Secretary-General, was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law. He turned himself in and is currently under disciplinary review and investigation by the Anhui Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision.
Du Yan’an, who has worked in Anhui for a long time, previously held positions such as Deputy Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People’s Congress, Mayor of Bozhou City, and Secretary of the Bozhou Municipal Party Committee. In January, he was elected as the Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People’s Congress during the 3rd session of the 14th Anhui Provincial People’s Congress. On June 2, Du Yan’an presided over a legislative work meeting of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People’s Congress.
An insider within the CCP system, using the pseudonym Ye Hongliang, told Epoch Times that discipline inspection and supervisory commissions in various provinces and cities across China have initiated internal “strict crackdowns” targeting corrupt officials to urge them to confess voluntarily and disclose their issues in exchange for lenient treatment. He said, “Due to the large number of corrupt officials, discipline inspection commissions do not have the time to investigate the hidden assets and activities of officials in violation individually. Therefore, an internal anti-corruption crackdown was launched to enhance the efficiency of capturing corrupt officials. This action started at the end of April, and since May, more and more grassroots officials have turned themselves in.”
Ye Hongliang mentioned that this operation is currently mainly focused on regions below the provincial level, at the county and city levels, where there are a considerable number of officials, and investigating each one of them would consume a significant amount of manpower.
Another case took place in Qinghai Province. On June 9th, the Qinghai Provincial Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission announced that Ma Weizhong, a member of the Party group and Vice Chairman of the Hai Dong City Political Consultative Conference in Qinghai Province, was under investigation for serious violations of discipline and law. He voluntarily turned himself in and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation by the Qinghai Provincial Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission.
Public records show that Ma Weizhong has worked in the local system in Qinghai for a long time, previously serving as the Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau in Hai Dong City, as well as Deputy Secretary and County Mayor in Minhe County. In August 2021, he became a member of the Party group and Vice Chairman of the Hai Dong City Political Consultative Conference.
A retired insider within the Guizhou system, using the pseudonym Fan Jian, told reporters that corruption within the CCP system is almost pervasive and cannot be completely eradicated. He revealed that in some regions in western and northwestern China, where local finances are under great pressure, officials involved in low-amount corruption cases who are willing to return embezzled money are actually handled with a flexible approach by the authorities – returning the money and imposing fines lightly, which, in essence, increases local revenues indirectly.
“For some individuals in institutions like the Guiyang Finance Bureau and the Municipal Political Consultative Conference, they are now allowed to confess internally first and return the money. For those with minor issues who return the money, they are treated leniently. However, for cases involving large amounts of money or related to core power transactions, major construction projects, or land approvals, strict actions are taken,” he said. “The discipline inspection commissions are well aware that this cannot be thoroughly investigated, so they are using this method to force a group of people to confess. I see this kind of internal crackdown happening nationwide, which also allows for the confiscation of money, alleviating fiscal pressure.”
Mr. Li, who is concerned about corruption issues in China, stated that officials queuing up to turn themselves in indicates that corruption in the Chinese officialdom is no longer an isolated phenomenon. He said, “Now, the entire system has problems. We call it systemic corruption. If the Communist Party does not address systemic issues, corruption problems cannot be solved. Nowadays, the people no longer pay attention to the CCP’s anti-corruption efforts. To the public, this anti-corruption campaign is an internal matter of the CCP.”
Since Xi Jinping assumed leadership of the CCP and continued the anti-corruption campaign, official corruption has not disappeared; in fact, there appears to be an increasing trend of corruption. In recent years, numerous officials have been ousted from various sectors, including the financial system, defense industry, state-owned enterprises, and grassroots county and city levels.
Mr. Li believes that the expanding scale of voluntary surrenders reflects that corruption within the CCP system is difficult to eradicate through anti-corruption efforts. He thinks that the simultaneous implementation of deadlines for voluntary surrenders and the imposition of harsh penalties indicates that the CCP has difficulty relying on normal institutional constraints for officials and can only maintain its ruling system through campaign-style anti-corruption and mechanisms of fear.