How-to China: China's further development hinges on sustained anti-corruption efforts - Expert

Q: What do the achievements made in the anti-graft campaign mean for the upcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC?

The anti-corruption campaign has made preparations for the 20th National Congress on two levels. First, the anti-graft campaign continuously maintains pressure on officials at different levels so that they don't only focus on their KPI, but also on their behaviors.

Also, the achievements of the anti-corruption campaign deliver a message to the outside world and all of society that without the anti-corruption efforts, there would be no further development. All further development should be based on the decent and clean behaviors of government officials.

Q: Some foreign media outlets have claimed that the anti-corruption drive is a political witch hunt? What do you think about it?

I think this is a typical conspiracy theory. They are still using outdated factionist's model of thinking to understand Chinese politics and try to use these information to influence foreign readers. This is a misconception and misinformation.

We can divide foreigners who are interested in China into several groups. The first group is the politicians, the second group is scholars, China watchers and analysts, and the third group is foreign media and journalists. The professors that I know rarely make this kind of claim.