On September 12, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Zhang Zulin, former Vice Governor of Yunnan Province, has been expelled from the party for serious violations of discipline and the law. His suspected criminal issues have been transferred to the procuratorial organ for review and prosecution.
Zhang Zulin is one of the 40 central government officials who have fallen in succession this year.
According to statistics from the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, from January 1 to September 13 this year, the Commission has investigated 40 central government officials, including 7 at the provincial and ministerial level, 28 at the deputy provincial and ministerial level, and 5 at the bureau level.
In 2023, a total of 45 central government officials were investigated by the Commission from January to December, making it the year with the most investigated central government officials since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.
With three and a half months remaining this year, it is certain that the number of central government officials investigated by the Commission in 2024 will exceed that of 2023, setting a new record for the highest number of investigated central government officials since the 18th National Congress.
Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission at the 18th National Congress in November 2012. In January 2013, Xi initiated the anti-corruption campaign at the second plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which has lasted for 12 years to date.
Xi has made the following remarks regarding the progress of his anti-corruption campaign:
In January 2016, Xi stated at the sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection: “There is a decisive trend in the fight against corruption.”
In December 2016, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, Xi stated: “There is already a decisive trend in the fight against corruption.”
In December 2018, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, Xi stated: “The fight against corruption has achieved a decisive victory.”
In this year of 2024, the sixth year after Xi declared the “decisive victory in the fight against corruption,” why are more and more corrupt individuals being uncovered within the Communist Party?
Zhang Zulin once served as the Mayor of Kunming. At the closing ceremony of the 13th People’s Congress of Kunming in 2011, Zhang Zulin swore: “I must be an honest and clean mayor,” pledging not to engage in corruption, take unjust wealth, or commit illegal activities. He vowed to be diligent, unite efforts, and uphold integrity, not becoming a mediocre, corrupt, or compromising official.
After Xi came to power, Zhang Zulin successively held positions as the Mayor of Kunming, the Secretary of Yuxi Municipal Committee, and the Vice Governor of Yunnan Province, witnessing the entire process of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign from its inception to the proclaimed decisive victory. He should have been a clean and upright official.
However, in 2024, the report from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection accused Zhang Zulin of “long-term collusion between politics and business,” engaging in “power and money transactions,” “engaging in power, sex, and money trades,” “illegally accepting a large sum of money,” and “severely violating the Party’s political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, work discipline, and lifestyle discipline, constituting serious violations of duty and suspicion of bribery crimes, and persisting in misconduct and not repenting after the 18th National Congress of the Party, with serious nature and negative impact.”
Why, in the sixth year after Xi declared the “decisive victory in the fight against corruption,” are Zhang Zulin and others increasingly corrupt?
There are mainly four reasons for this phenomenon:
First, the “Tiger King” has not been put in a cage.
Before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, Xi waged a ten-year anti-corruption campaign, investigating over 570 officials at the deputy provincial and ministerial levels and other central government officials. Most of them were officials promoted and valued by Jiang Zemin, the former highest leader of the Communist Party in politics, government, and military affairs, and by Zeng Qinghong, former members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and Vice President of the country.
That is to say, Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong were the ultimate backers of the most corrupt officials in the central government at that time. However, Xi not only did not investigate Jiang and Zeng, nor Jiang Zemin’s son Jiang Mianheng, or Zeng Qinghong’s son Zeng Wei, but also praised Jiang as a “great Marxist.”
Xi’s protection and elevation of Jiang and Zeng created a huge loophole in his anti-corruption campaign, leading to a situation where Jiang, Zeng, and their factions, including the families of Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Wu Guanzheng, He Guoqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Liu Yunshan, Zhang Gaoli, etc., all escaped punishment.
By not capturing the thieves’ leader and even glorifying the “bandit leader,” Xi has enabled a situation where the more the anti-corruption drive is pushed, the more corruption takes root in the Communist Party.
Second, the highest power has not been put in a cage.
As of 2024, the current top leader of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, not only surpasses Deng Xiaoping’s authority but even exceeds that of Mao Zedong. After 1959, Mao only served as the Chairman of the Central Committee and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission; Deng never served as the top leader of the Party and the government. Since 1981, Deng’s highest position was as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Xi has now “three consecutive terms” as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the country, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Xi also holds positions in more than a dozen committees or leading groups, including: Chairman of the National Security Commission, Director of the Central Comprehensive Deepening Reform Commission, Director of the Central Financial and Economic Commission, Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Director of the Central Comprehensive Law-based Governance Commission, Director of the Central Audit Commission, Leader of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Work, Leader of the Central Military Commission Leading Group for Deepening National Defense and Military Reform, and Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Operations Command Center of the Central Military Commission, among others.
At present, Xi has completed the transition from centralized power to absolute power. The members of the Communist Party’s Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee are almost entirely his close associates. With no one to supervise Xi, the lack of restrictions on the highest power inevitably leads to corruption.
Less than a year after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, a group of officials personally recommended and promoted by Xi Jinping fell consecutively due to serious corruption issues, illustrating the consequences of unchecked highest authority.
Third, the system of the Communist Party is a breeding ground for corruption.
The Communist Party practices one-party dictatorship. What does one-party dictatorship mean? It means “the Party leads everything,” encompassing legislation, law enforcement, judicial functions, decision-making, execution, supervision, public security, prosecution, and courts. The Party not only acts as coach, referee, and player but also overrides the constitution and laws, leading to inevitable corruption.
On March 30, 1946, the Communist Party’s Liberation Daily published an article stating, “One-party dictatorship leads to disasters everywhere.” Today, the pervasiveness of corruption in all aspects of the Communist Party from top to bottom is a concrete manifestation of “one-party dictatorship leading to disasters everywhere.”
Fourth, the cancerous cells of corruption within the Communist Party have spread throughout the body and are incurable.
During Jiang Zemin’s reign, he governed through corruption, allowing his son Jiang Mianheng to climb the ranks while “quietly amassing great wealth.” Jiang also promoted and valued a large number of seriously corrupt officials. Under the leadership of Jiang Mianheng and these corrupt individuals, the officialdom of the Communist Party swiftly turned into a marketplace for power, money, and illicit activities, where officials at all levels engaged in corruption.
Since Xi Jinping came to power and emphasized “the Party’s leadership in everything,” reinforcing the role of power in resource allocation, this has provided more opportunities for those in power to engage in corruption. Xi’s anti-corruption campaign has become selective, losing its deterrent effect on corrupt individuals.
In a situation where the cancerous cells of corruption within the Communist Party have spread throughout the body, the downfall of one corrupt individual quickly leads to the replication of thousands of corrupt officials.
In conclusion, as the Communist Party has transitioned from centralized power to absolute power, any anti-corruption measures taken are only superficial and not addressing the root issue. Even treating the symptoms will lead to exacerbating corruption further.