‘Crushing victory’: what’s next for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s war on corruption?
- The Communist Party says a milestone has been reached but assessments vary on just what it all means
China’s Communist Party has for the first time declared a “crushing victory” in President Xi Jinping’s war on corruption, a sudden announcement that left observers debating what it all meant for the six-year campaign.
In a statement after its meeting on Thursday, the party’s top 25-member decision-making body, the Politburo, said “the fight against corruption has achieved a crushing victory” since the 19th party congress late last year.
But it also warned that the situation ahead was still tough and the fight must go on.
The “crushing victory” reference is a marked change from Xi’s assessment two years ago when he told the Politburo that the war on corruption had gained “crushing momentum”. Ten months later, at the 19th party congress, he urged the party to keep up the momentum and strive for a “crushing victory”, a point reached just over a year into Xi’s second term in power.
More than 1.3 million party officials at various levels, from the powerful “tigers” to low-ranking “flies”, have been caught in the campaign since it was launched in late 2012.
