A few members of the Chinese National People’s Congress, sitting in their serried ranks in the vast hall of their Parliament building, might have stifled a yawn during this week’s speech from their Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. The problem was that the Zhu was launching yet another angry attack on corruption and inefficiency within the Communist Party government. For the last five years, with increasing stridency, these thunderbolts of fury have been hurled down by the top Communist leadership. Yet they all seem to have done precious little good. China remains a society in which officials large and small want to be bribed. It is also often a very inefficient society. Even when bribes have been paid, there is no guarantee that the desired end will be achieved .
It would, however, be entirely wrong to dismiss the Chinese and their bureaucrats as fundamentally dishonest. China is an ancient society with strong moral concepts. It is the nature of the times that is placing such a strain on the honesty of officials. Few people outside of Asia seem to understand the volcanic proportions of the economic and social changes that are taking place in the world’s most populous nation. This was a society which even 20 years ago was still held in the rigid grip of state socialism. The freebooting ways of capitalism have not fitted very well with the demands of a centrally controlled economy. So, while the Chinese leadership has been forced to loosen the reins in terms of economic activity, it has endeavored to maintain the same high levels of bureaucratic control that existed at the peak of Maoist days.
Therein lies the contradiction that has given rise to so much of the corruption. If economic initiatives could stand or fall through the decision of bureaucratic minions, who are often both underpaid and have little experience or understanding of the ways of commerce, the opportunity for payola is readymade. China is emerging as an economic superpower. A lot of people are getting very rich in a society which is increasingly driven by consumer, not communist, values. This week for instance, China became the world’s largest user of mobile telephones. But while this huge transformation takes place, at every turn in its vibrant new economic activity, sits an official with a stamp whose permission is essential.
The Chinese leadership is desperately concerned that bribery will bring the Communist Party into disrepute and lose its support among the mass of people. But, the way in which the authorities handle corrupt officials has surely undermined confidence in them. For instance, a deputy provincial governor was executed for taking bribes of around $800,000 but a sentence of only 16 years was given to a member of the Politburo who was found guilty of accepting over $4 million in bribes.
It must be doubted that the latest crackdown on corruption will succeed by itself. What is needed is a root-and-branch regulatory reform, the creation of reliable and efficient commercial courts and a new salary structure for the country’s millions of bureaucrats. If civil servants are decently paid, they will no longer feel that if they and their families are to partake in the new wealth economy, they must cream off their own little bit of payola during the regulatory process.
