Michael Colopy

The new leaders of the Chinese Communist Party signaled from the first moment of their ascension to power that they knew their legitimacy and ability to rule China would be lost if they didn’t make major, visible gains against rampant official corruption. The Part Secretary, China’s president Xi Jinping, beginning with his first public appearance on assuming office, has repeatedly and forcefully declared war on official corruption. Across the entire structure of the party and the government it controls, investigations, dismissals and arrest bear out the seriousness of Xi’s campaign. Many ask if this merely the removal of allies of his rivals or a sincerely purging of the guilty from positions of power. While the changes may serve that less lofty purpose, Xi knows that in the short term he cannot correct many of the serious problems that enrage his restive countrymen and must tackle the greatest threat to the party’s legitimacy to rule: corruption.

This talk describes the traditional patronage system (“guangxi” networks), how the party has evolved to embrace it alongside contradictory Marxist principles, the reason many think it cannot be eradicated and why it may eventually prove fatal to the party’s control of China, as Xi has warned. In this presentation numerous and varied examples of corruption at every level are used to underscore the severity of the dilemma.