Helen Raleigh writes for the Federalist about an intriguing new report.
The recent unclassified report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) shines a critical light on the pervasive wealth and corruption within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), confirming long-held suspicions about its fundamental rot.
The report identifies that corruption has been a systemic issue in Communist China since its founding, driven by the CCP’s concentrated power, lack of transparency, and absence of independent oversight. Until recently, gathering data on the party’s corrupt practices was a formidable challenge, as the CCP ruthlessly guarded its internal operations from public view.
However, in 2012, following Xi Jinping’s ascension as general secretary of the party and head of state, he initiated a sweeping anti-corruption campaign, pledging to tackle both “flies” (lower-level officials) and “tigers” (high-ranking officials). This ongoing campaign, now spanning over a decade, has inadvertently unveiled the staggering scope of corruption plaguing the party.
Many initially viewed Xi’s anti-graft campaign as a tactic to eliminate political rivals. However, the ODNI analysis reveals a more profound motivation: Xi’s concern that the rampant corruption is eroding the legitimacy of the CCP and obstructing his geopolitical ambitions.
Under Xi, corruption is framed foremost as a political crime — indicative of “disloyalty and ideological weakness” — that threatens the party’s unity. This explains why it is always the internal party organizations, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Supervisory Commission (NSC), that lead the investigations of members’ “party discipline breaches” (a code name for corruption). The party has the final say on which cases will be handed over to the judicial system for criminal prosecution.
Once cases reach the courts, the conviction rate is almost 100 percent, a clear indication that China’s judicial system is another tool to serve the party’s interests. Between 2012 and 2022, CCDI and NSC investigated nearly 5 million CCP members, with 4.7 million found guilty of corruption, highlighting the issue’s magnitude.
