China has reaped enormous benefits from its ongoing nationwide anti-corruption campaign, which aims to forge cleaner governance and has so far proved effective. Benefits to the world at large are emerging.
Chasing corrupt officials from high-ranking "tigers" to "flies" at lower levels in the country in the past five years, Beijing also launched such operations as "Sky Net" and "Fox Hunt" overseas to hunt down fugitive venal officials.
As of March 31, China had captured 2,873 fugitives from over 90 countries and regions, and recovered some 130 million U.S. dollars,according to China's top anti-graft watchdog. Over 1,000 fugitives were brought back to China for justice in 2016.
"There is now almost no chance of escape," read a report released in April on the website of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).
"LONG-AWAITED" CAMPAIGN
"What President Xi Jinping seems to be aspiring to is that China will embrace the best standard of corruption prevention," Bob Carr, former foreign minister of Australia, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"If Xi succeeds, then he will have delivered on a major transformation on how China does business," said Carr. "That will be very good for the Chinese people. They will be the biggest winners out of that."
William J. Carroll, president emeritus of U.S. Benedictine University, also applauded Xi's anti-corruption engagement since "corruption on the part of government officials threatens the very fabric of society."
"While these individuals garner individual benefits, they erode the trust citizens have in their government, destroying harmony and thereby resulting in the dissolution of the society," he noted. "Xi has taken steps to eradicate the corruption within the government. If he is successful, China will be better for it."
In the eyes of Do Tien Sam, editor-in-chief of the China Research Journal published by Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, corruption is a global phenomenon, but "more serious in transitional countries."
He said Xi's firm determination in striking embezzlement brings "many encouraging results which are long-awaited and appreciated by people not only from China."
"Fighting corruption concerns the survival of a ruling party," he said. "China is on a very right direction. The CPC's methods and actions in this fight is a very good reference for other Communist parties."
Peter J. Li, associate professor of University of Houston, argued that corruption, "if unchecked, can trigger social unrest and a legitimacy crisis. China's sustained development depends on the success of Xi's campaign," he said.
According to Macharia Munene, an international relations lecturer at Kenya's U.S. International University, China's "campaign against corruption comes out as a no-nonsense undertaking, especially as it ropes in 'big fish' within the party and the bureaucracy."
"The rest of the world can observe how determined effort on fighting corruption can lead to increasing prosperity and national credibility," Munene noted.
