Xi anti-corruption campaign likely to continue

The Chinese Communist party’s 18th Central Committee, which formally disbanded on October 14, was one of the world’s most elite political organizations, but also one of the most dangerous, according to the Financial Times. From December 2012 to October 2017, 18 sitting Central Committee members – almost 9% of the total 205 – were detained for alleged corruption. To date six have been formally tried, convicted and sentenced to jail terms ranging from 12 years to life. They are amongst the highest-profile victims of President Xi Jinping’s historic anti-corruption campaign, which has ended the careers of more than 150 government ministers, army generals and SOE executives. “The anti-corruption campaign has gathered unstoppable momentum,” Tuo Zhen, a party congress spokesman, said on the eve of its opening. He added that the campaign’s successes meant that officials now “dare not” engage in corruption. As a next step, party and government anti-graft bodies will be merged “under one roof” to ensure that officials “cannot” do so.