Op-ed: China’s new reforms to fuel anti-corruption campaigns

China has been frequently applauded by the international society because of its remarkable achievements in anti-corruption campaigns during the past five years. This time, the country’s firm resolution to fight against corruption through major reforms wowed the world again.

“It’s amazing that China achieved remarkable success on anti-corruption in just a few years, while it remains a major challenge for many countries,” said George N. Tzogopoulos, senior research fellow at the Centre International de Formation Européenne.

Foreign media also hailed that China’s success in anti-graft campaign is as glorious as its achievements in satisfying the basic needs of the world’s largest population.

China’s decision to deepen reform of national supervision system and establish new supervisory commissions is making news headlines of the international community in last few days.

The ongoing first session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, adopted an amendment to the country's Constitution on Mar. 11, officially listing supervisory commissions as a new type of state organs.

In the meantime, a draft supervision law, which paves way for unified anti-graft network led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), is being heard by NPC deputies.

China’s wisdom to crack down corruption, a hard nut that troubles the entire globe, serves as an important inspiration for the world. After years of studies, foreign experts have found that the power of institution is the most efficient tool to curb corruption.

China’s major institutional design to authorize the supervisory commissions with legal status will help the country fight the corruption till the end. Through integration and regrouping of national institutions, the new system is designed to supervise all who exercise public power.

The Reuters once said that the CPC, which is good at self-revolution, is able to clear every dead corner in its anti-corruption campaign.

The international community places high attention on China’s new steps to tackle corruption, and sees higher effectiveness of the country’s anti-graft plans than those of the other countries.

The Western countries have taken a variety of measures to prevent and curb corruption, but graft remains a big issue, and even becomes harder to be detected.

Some developing countries failed to control corruption, but worsened the situation after adopting a Western-style democracy. As a result, the whole world is now eager to find a remedy on how to improve the efficiency of anti-corruption campaigns.

Given such backdrop, China’s bold reform has shed a new light for the world. Its reform over the national supervisory system, as a big political system reform, has a bearing on the country’s overall situation.

The legislation to eliminate corruption, as well as the establishment of specialized organizations, speak well for China’s resolution, reflect the flexibility of a major country in adjusting its efforts against challenges, and represents the quality of the CPC to advance with times. Mexican scholar Enrique Dússel once said that he is amazed at the CPC’s faith and self-discipline to eliminate corruption.

“A powerful party, as a political entity for China’s national governance, provides a favorable platform for the country to address the challenges emerged in its development,” said Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.

The director pointed out that the unified leadership of the Party is a major characteristic of China’s anti-corruption campaigns.

He believes that in addition to the challenge of economic governance, the world is facing more governing crises in social and political aspects, especially in governing political parties.

Political party is the principal organizer of a country’s political and economic activities. Effective political parties will lead effective countries and governments, so that good ideas will be turned into ideal policies and finally translated into reality, according to the professor.

The CPC is a party that always turns good ideas into actions, Zheng said, adding that by establishing a centralized, unified, authoritative and efficient supervisory network, the country can realize an organic unity in deepening reform in all areas, advancing law-based governance and ensuring full and strict governance over the Party.

The world views China’s anti-corruption campaigns as praiseworthy practical actions. China’s new actions to reform national supervisory system and set up supervisory commissions will further showcase the country’s creativity and stamina in its efforts to fight corruption.