I happened to greet the New Year on a layover in Beijing. It caught my eye that the China Daily, in its first edition of 2016, informed about Chinese fugitives who after having fled abroad due to bribery suspicions, had been brought back to China, both voluntarily and involuntarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also mentioned that the Central Commission of Disciplinary Inspection of the Communist Party of China is leading the charge on combating corruption and bribery nationwide, and has been overseeing an international operation code named \u201cSky Net\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of a special operation from \u2018The Supreme People’s Procuratorate\u2019, 108 individuals have been brought back from 29 foreign countries in cooperation with the respective law enforcement agencies. Seventy of them surrendered and returned to China. They are suspected of embezzling 180 million USD. It was also noted that 31 of the suspects lived abroad for more than ten years, and seven of them, for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, as a result of the \u201cFox Hunt 2015\u201d operations managed by the Ministry of Public Security, 556 people who accumulated wealth illegally were arrested in 59 countries and returned to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the last day of 2015, it was announced that Zhang Lijun, a former environmental protection vice-minister, would be convicted and sentenced to jail time for embezzling money, and practicing Cronyism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHY IS CORRUPTION SO DANGEROUS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes China fight corruption and bribery so relentlessly? China\u2019s Ex-president Jiang Zemin said \u201cCorruption is the cancer in the body of the party and the state. If we let it grow, our party, our political power and our socialist modernization cause will be doomed.\u201d Hu Jintao, who succeeded Jiang Zemin, said \u201cCorruption could destroy the political party and even the nation.\u201d These leaders used to talk about it, but why is the current president Xi fighting it so fiercely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer lies in the fact that the level of corruption has grown to a point where people are deeply frustrated by the luxurious lifestyle led by politicians for the past 30 years. Ever since the Confucius era, Chinese people have always believed that the state practices true meritocracy and that government\u2019s employees are the smartest people, who devote their heart and body to the achievement of a fair society. However, people have started doubting their political system as a whole because it has become increasingly apparent that current officials are deviating from this notion. This poses a threat to the political system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, corruption is already linked to the matter of existence for China\u2019s government today, and President Xi Jinping holds the view that there is no other choice but to eliminate corruption entirely. The Diplomat magazine quoted President Xi saying that he would put aside considerations of life, death, and reputation, in order to do everything, he can and eradicate corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Xi\u2019s combat against corruption is moving into its second phase today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first stage, <\/strong>corruption \u2018tigers\u2019, such as Zhou Yongkang who used to oversee all law enforcement agencies, were arrested and held accountable for their actions. There were many more \u201ctiger cubs and flies\u201d. As they started holding the corrupt accountable, government officials became more fearful of corruption and bribery, and the right messages began reaching the public. Officials started avoiding luxuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second phase<\/strong> of the anti-corruption surge consists of establishing institutions with the capacity to prevent corruption. The goal is to eliminate the chance of bribery and corruption, even if a government official is willing to commit the act. For example, a campaign named \u201cTake a picture when you see corruption\u201d was organized. Basically, if government officials are seen taking advantage of luxury, people can take a photo and place it on the website of the central commission. The government officials will then have to respond officially to the photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third phase <\/strong>aims at changing the mentality of government officials so that they do not even consider being involved in corruption. Although it is said to be implemented, much time and hard work will be required to create such culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OUTCOME OF MONGOLIA\u2019S FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It should be noted that Mongolia also discusses combating corruption, and taking initiatives such as \u2018smart government\u2019 and \u2018glass accounts\u2019. However, corruption still lingers, and there is no reason as to why it should have disappeared at this time. Our political parties, the nest of Mongolia\u2019s corruption, completely disregard those initiatives. It has been a long time since corruption, having transferred through political parties, became an institution in Mongolia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The institution of the political party keeps its members in the dark about sources of funding. The financing of election campaigns is an even bigger secret, because it is the market where political positions and power are traded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Political leaders who are trying to eliminate corruption are born out of the same institution and associated with corruption themselves. Hence, they are unable to reform their political parties, and Mongolia\u2019s fight against corruption is gradually being forgotten. Despite sensational cases (similar to China\u2019s) of big \u2018tigers\u2019 being arrested in Mongolia, which result in court hearings and jail time, suspects or convicts end up \u201ctraded\u201d, pardoned, exonerated, and freed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three years ago, N. Enkhbayar, the former President of Mongolia, was arrested at home and gained the title of being the \u2018godfather of corruption\u2019. Nevertheless, he was freed not long after, received treatment abroad, and is almost about to become the Vice Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A large number of media reports emerged about S. Bayar, the former Prime Minister, on allegedly owning several houses in the United States. But there have not been any investigations or statements from the Independent Agency Against Corruption (IAAC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since almost every political party, and their leader, has their own newspaper and television channel, they have already become experienced and capable of brainwashing the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2015 special edition of the \u201cUndesnii Toim\u201d magazine published about 14 crimes that were ruled by IAAC for conviction, but dismissed by the state prosecutor, along with the full names of the suspects. Amongst them were members of Parliament, ministers, and other senior officials who apparently embezzled land and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A trend has been set in that Mongolia\u2019s authorities use crimes to silence each other, and such big cases end up being dismissed. Sometimes there are cases of \u201ctiger cubs and flies\u201d and convictions of one, or two, low and mid-level officials. Mongolia\u2019s fight against corruption has not gone beyond that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n COMBAT AGAINST CORRUPTION HAS NOT EVEN STARTED IN MONGOLIA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you look at China\u2019s fight against corruption logically, it would be easy to see that Mongolia has not even started the first phase. If corruption is considered as the cancer of Mongolia\u2019s society, it has been kept hidden instead of receiving treatment. What is worse is that attempts are made to use the immunity of senior officials to protect individuals from charges of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The people are wise, so they are expressing their discontent and opposition to these pretentious acts. Nevertheless, another trend has been set that, in every instance, someone ends up having a political gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corruption has become the biggest and yet most invisible obstacle in Mongolia\u2019s endeavor to walk on its chosen path of democracy and free market economy. The corrupt government is stealing the opportunity from people to be able to create value and improve their livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we cannot remove corruption from our government, public officials will continue becoming billionaires, whilst the rest of us becomes poorer, and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. If things continue like this, our society will witness the kind of frustration which can end in a riot. When this happens, someone may attempt to build their own governance under the name of bringing discipline. Unless we eradicate corruption, our democracy will be destroyed by a dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beijing, 2016.01.06<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I happened to greet the New Year on a layover in Beijing. It caught my eye that the China Daily, in its first edition of 2016, informed about Chinese fugitives who after having fled abroad due to bribery suspicions, had been brought back to China, both voluntarily and involuntarily. 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