Xi
Jinping, the new head of China’s ruling Communist Party, told his fellow
leaders that unless they address corruption social unrest may rise and it could
lead to the demise of the party.
“The preponderance of
facts tell us that the more severe the corruption problem becomes, it will
ultimately lead the party and the nation to perish!” Xi told members of the
ruling Politburo on Nov. 17 in remarks published today in the People’s Daily,
the party newspaper. “We must be vigilant!”
Xi’s
comments were made two days after he took over leadership of the 82-million
member party from Hu Jintao, who is also expected to turn over the state
presidency to Xi in March. The Communist Party was rocked by the biggest
political scandal in a generation this year with the ouster of Bo Xilai from the
Politburo in April and the conviction in August of his wife for the murder of a
British businessman.
Xi told a
study group of the ruling Politburo that the collapse of some regimes around
the world in recent years was linked to rising corruption, saying that “first
the body rots, then the worms grow,” according to the remarks published in the
People’s Daily. Xi also said that all cadres must restrain their relatives,
show self restraint, never abuse their power and never enjoy special
privileges.
“Everyone in
violation of party discipline must be punished,” Xi said. “We can’t be soft.”
The
phrase Xi used to warn about corruption endangering the party was similar to
that used by Hu in a Nov. 8 speech, during which he told delegates to the 18th
Communist Party Congress that “if we fail to handle this issue well, it could
prove fatal to the Party, and even cause the collapse of the Party and the fall
of the state.”
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