Peer pressure no excuse for corruption

"SO MANY OFFICIALS ARE CORRUPT; WHY PUNISH ME?" That's a complaint commonly heard by the nation's top disciplinary watchdog. Rampant corruption is no excuse for forgiving any corrupt official, says China Disciplinary Watch, the official newspaper of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection:

It is a rather evil mentality to list other officials' corruption as excuse for one's own. When an official is found corrupt, he or she deserves punishment, which should never be made lighter just because other officials are also corrupt.

Worse, such a mentality is one of the causes why corruption has become so rampant and almost unstoppable over the years. When such a mentality spreads like an epidemic among officials, the political ecology becomes ruined and talking about self-discipline makes an official a laughing stock or excluded from the circle of influence.