How far has the problem of corruption affected the political legitimacy of the

CCP to govern China?

Corruption in China has become a rampant issue, one that remains at the heart of CCP's
concern because failure to manage the issue adequately will undermine CCP's claim to
political legitimacy based on civil governance for it would shake the people's confidence
in the moral integrity and competence of the CCP leaders to govern well. The degree of
severity of the issue is amplified by the fact that besides the Maoist ideology, CCP's
political legitimacy is largely premised upon the continued delivery of economic
prosperity and the development of modem civil governance. Therefore, widespread and
prevalent corruption, to a large extent, has indeed challenged CCP's political legitimacy.
Worse of all, corruption is a major impediment to the effectiveness of the government's
well-intentioned policy, the root to many of the regime's problem.
Corruption has greatly aggravated problems faced by China's vast and poor peasantry,
the backbone of CCP's ideological pretension to monopolizing political power.
Corruption has resulted in many cases of land misappropriations by local officials and the
exaction of illegal levies, which are major causes of peasants' grievances. Miscarriage of
justice in rural areas is commonplace.
CCP's efforts at premising its political legitimacy on civil governance are undermined by
the problem of corruption. Promotion of rule by law is threatened by corruption as
building personal connections through bribery is often more effective than abiding by the
legal procedures. One reason for low morale that existed within the PLA is the operation
of private businesses amongst the senior officers, which generated abundant opportunities
for corruption. Corruption has exacerbated social inequality. Powerful and wealthy
personalities can bribe the relevant officials to circumvent laws, such as the One-Child
Policy.
Continued economic development, which has pacified much of the populace's resentment
towards the CCP, can be sabotaged by corruption. Infringement of copyrights act by
many illegal businessmen is often achieved through bribing the relevant officials.
Corruption affects international trust and the creative industries in China. Instances of
faulty Chinese products such as poisoned food and toys are also related to the problem of
corruption in the country, for example the execution of corrupt Food and Drugs Bureau
chief in 2007.
Corruption undercuts the political integrity of the central Chinese leadership as numerous
well-intentioned policies aimed at solving regional problems are thwarted by errant
officials. Policies to tackle environmental and agrarian problems, regulations on work
safety standards, which resulted in high casualty rates amongst Chinese miners, are often
not carried out faithfully at the local levels as official's responsible accepted bribes from
errant businesspeople.
CCP's attempts to buttress its legitimacy through building a people-oriented but
paternalistic government are wrecked by the problem of corruption. Visits of Chinese

leaders to the Sichuan Earthquake sites in year 2008, have effectively raised the populist
image of the CCP. However, popular adoration as such was almost immediately brought
down by news that building affected by the disaster collapsed easily because safety
supervisory officials for the construction of infrastructure were corrupted. Riots erupted
in Weng An city during the same year, as 30000 protested violently against alleged
miscarriage of justice by local police officials.
Inability to solve the problem of corruption by the CCP has undermined popular trust in
the party's integrity and efficiency. Despite the formation of disciplinary and supervisory
committees in the CCP and the state bureaucracy, harsh punishments and educational
campaigns, the problem of corruption remained unresolved. Official caught and punished
for corruption are often perceived as the unfortunates who fell out from political favor,
rather than results of genuine efforts by the government to weed out corruption.
Corruption has resulted in the public questioning CCP's commitment and ability at
solving the problem.
The CCP itself has even acknowledged that the fight against corruption would determine
the survival of the party. Published in the People's Daily in June 2008, the problem of
corruption has affected all levels and of every ministries in the Chinese bureaucracy. A
corruption hotline has been installed to receive people's grievances. Millions of calls are
registered each year. It is the most important cause for social discontents and the tens and
thousands of protests erupted annually throughout the country since 1978.
In conclusion, corruption has greatly affected the political legitimacy of CCP because not
only is it the cause of many of the regime's problems, it is the stumbling block to its
solutions. Corruption has widened economic disparity, thwarted economic growth by
undercutting the political integrity of officials, and has shaken the people's confidence in
the integrity and governing ability of the CCP. Even though measures have been taken by
CCP to crackdown on corruption, they have been mostly ineffective and punishment has
been inconsistently meted out. Corruption is so widespread and deep-seated in the
Chinese socio-political system and psyche so much so that even legal agencies like the
central and local judiciaries, police and anti-corruption bureaus are susceptible to grafts.
Given the degree of severity of the problem of corruption in China, it a challenge of the
political legitimacy of CCP.