China Issues New Code of Ethics for Officials
Mar 1st, 2010 • Posted in: NewsGraft is consistently the number one grievance cited in public opinion polls and is openly acknowledged to be the biggest threat to Communist Party control
BEIJING
China’s Communist Party has issued a new ethics code to fight corruption, which leaders view as one of the biggest long-term threats to the nation’s survival.
The Agence France-Presse reports that the code outlaws 52 specific actions on the part of government officials at all levels, including accepting gifts and using their influence to benefit friends and family.
Provisions of the new code also prohibit officials from establishing for-profit enterprises, profiting from shady property transfers, or registering companies outside of the Chinese mainland, according to the official state agency Xinhua.
Corruption has become endemic in China, and according to the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville, the evidence is readily apparent.
“Some of the most senior party officials in China have been on the take — property speculation has been particularly popular,” Sommerville writes. “The richer the country gets, the bigger the sums involved…. In some provinces, party and government headquarters are indistinguishable from plush five star hotels. The latest luxury sedans are often used to ferry around officials.”
The Times of London’s Beijing bureau reports that corruption is the main grievance aired in public opinion polls conducted in China, and the party openly admits that graft poses the greatest threat to its hold on political power.
Sources: Times of London, Feb. 25 — BBC, Feb. 24 — AFP, Feb. 24 — Xinhua, Feb. 23.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Feb. 22 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 25 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 19 — Related Newsline story, Oct. 19, 2009 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 8, 2009.
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