Fight corruption by system reform

Translated by Li Yang from China Business News

It took only 63 hours to sack a district head in Chongqing after a video of he and his lover in bed was released on a micro blog. The efficiency of this incident and other recent anti-corruption cases suggest China is probably preparing for more battles against government officials' corruption.

The widely circulated remarks of Xi Jinping's speech on the struggle against corruption not only convey the ruling Party's resolve to solve the issue, but also reflect the people's will and expectation for a clean and well-behaved government.

If not addressed, the corruption issue could even threaten the stability of Chinese society and the Communist Party of China's rule of the country.

Surveys show that 67 percent of Chinese say they are concerned about how China's anti-corruption system works, and 77 percent think China should strengthen its fight against corruption.

There must be effective supervision plus checks and balances to curb the abuse of power and embezzlement of public capital.

The Internet and the other new media in previous anti-corruption cases shows the importance of information transparency. But it is far from enough. Authorities should recognize the supervision and power balance in its system, rather than setting itself against society.

Only when China establishes a systematic mechanism to fight corruption can the struggle really start healing the root causes of the corruption.

Otherwise, individual cases exposed one after another do not lead to final success, but rather expose the necessity of system reform.