DENG Xiaoping, whose reforms led to China's spectacular economic development, used to speak of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Did he ever think of corruption with Chinese characteristics? Very unlikely. Like every socialist or communist, he may have thought that corruption and avarice was part of the capitalist system. So when Deng said In 1992 ,”Let a part of the population get rich first.” he would not have imagined that “the part of the population” that would get rich first would be party functionaries and they would be getting rich by corrupt means. But this is what has happened. Deng's reforms brought average per capita income in China up to $2,425 by 2010. Unfortunately, it also enabled party leaders and their families to make huge fortunes over the same period. If anything, the situation has gone from bad to worse. The opening session of the party's 18th National Congress in Beijing on Thursday left no one in doubt that corruption is the current hot-button topic in China. In a report to the Congress, Hu Jintao, nation's president and the party's general secretary, warned that corruption and a lack of political integrity “could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state.”Sounding the alarm, Hu called on party members to rein in their relatives whose lavish lifestyle and wealth have aroused public anger. The whole world got a glimpse of that anger Thursday morning when a woman in her 30s threw pieces of torn paper into the air and shouted, “bandits and robbers!” in Tiananmen Square, situated close to the congress venue. “Nobody is above the law,” Hu said to the applause of more than 2,000 delegates. We don't know whether he was referring to a recent story by Bloomberg Business News about Vice President Xi Jinping's millionaire relations. The story provided details of the wealth amassed by Xi's close relatives, including his siblings. Xi , 59, who is expected to take over from Hu as president and general secretary and other party notables were on the dais behind Hu. China is not the only country where there is rising public anger over official corruption. In india, the ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party are both mired in corruption scandals. But in China, it is taboo to talk about the personal or financial affairs of top leaders. The general public becomes aware of the extent of the problem only when corrupt local communist officials are purged periodically. Such officials are often given long prison sentences or, if the crime is serious enough, executed. One official was recently sacked and put under investigation after web surfers compiled pictures of him wearing several different luxury watches. Party officials are aware that corruption and wide gap in income are making the people restive. In his speech, Hu cited many of the challenges China faces: A rich-poor divide, environmentally ruinous growth and the rivalry between prosperous cities and impoverished countryside. But the real question is whether the new leadership will be prepared to separate government administration from the management of enterprises, state assets, public institutions and social organizations. Who will challenge the politically connected families that run many state-owned enterprises — enterprises that provide lavish opportunities for insider corruption and self-dealing?
