Anti-corruption

China’s upper echelons are seemingly on shaky ground as two of its five state councillors have disappeared from the public eye. However, the purging of the military could be seen as a necessary step to ensure the reliability of the military and that China is ready for modern-day warfare, says Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong.

Medical researcher and doctor Hayson Wang assesses that Chinese public hospitals being run like businesses is a key reason for the widespread occurrence of corruption in the medical sector. Unless hospitals are well-funded and supported, they will continue to find it difficult to provide good public welfare and stay away from corruption.

Commentator Tan Haojun highlights the many grey areas that the people in white in China find themselves in, amid an all-out anti-corruption campaign in the medical sector. It may be unimaginable that the same sector lauded for brave work during the pandemic is under investigation for rampant corruption. The reality is that heroes and the corrupt coexist, and only by reining in those hungry for power and profit can the system start to rid itself of the bad hats.

Whether China can prove naysayers wrong and keep up its good national fortunes depends on solving old problems associated with restarting the mechanisms of the Soviet Union model, and tackling new problems arising from successful development.

Over the past month, China’s medical sector has been swept by a wave of anti-corruption efforts, with nearly 180 hospital directors and secretaries under investigation so far. Some people cheer the aggressive effort, but it has also created a lot of unintended repercussions. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Chen Jing discusses her own experience seeing doctors in China and warns of the potential drawbacks of a stern crackdown.

The recent spate of reports about investigations into senior Chinese officials — especially in the military — have prompted questions about what is happening in China. Given the lack of transparency in the Chinese government, it is hard to come to any firm conclusion about what these “fallen tigers” have done, but it is easy to see that corruption is still a major problem in the highly centralised system.

The sudden reshuffle of senior officers of the People’s Liberation Army has shocked the media and the public. While the reasons for the removal of two generals from the Rocket Force remains unclear, authorities seem to be signalling an anti-corruption wave in China’s military. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu tells us more.

”Political swindlers“ are a problem in China’s political circles, with officials getting conned into providing favours for who they think are high-powered individuals with connections to the CCP’s top leadership, only to find themselves in trouble when the game is exposed. Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan gives examples of such cases, and efforts to clamp down on such fakery.

Nearly 20 senior executives and officials from the government-controlled China National Tobacco Corporation (China Tobacco) and the regulator, State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, have been caught up in the anti-graft investigation since 2021. Huge profits and the vertical management structure have made the tobacco industry a breeding ground for corruption.