After year of big corruption crackdown, China promises more probes, retribution

One day before a key meeting of China's anti-graft watchdog, the state broadcaster aired a programme on how grassroots corruption is being crushed, dispelling any notion that China is losing its grip on graft.

The first of four episodes of "Fighting Corruption for the People" ran on Sunday night, focusing on petty corruption cases including a northeastern primary school director profiting from kickbacks from on-campus meals and an official in rural Sichuan taking bribes from farm project contractors.

Last year, China was rocked by a surge of corruption probes ensnaring individuals from a vice central bank governor to a former chairman of its biggest oil and gas company, adding to unease in an economy struggling to secure a firm footing and a society grappling with a fading sense of wealth.

The list of individuals also included a top military official, Miao Hua, an admiral, whose fall from grace comes at a time when China is trying to modernise its armed forces and boost its battle readiness.

To quash any thought the ruling Communist Party helmed by President Xi Jinping is behind the curve, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), declared in recent days that a record 58 "tigers", or senior officials, were probed last year. The anti-graft watchdog will gather on Monday through Wednesday to firm up its 2025 tasks, state media said.

Last year, 47 of the officials probed were at the vice-ministerial level or above, including Tang Renjian, former minister of agriculture and rural affairs, and Gou Zhongwen, former head of the General Administration of Sport.

Even retired high-ranking officials were not spared, such as Wang Yilin, former chairman and party secretary of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.

The corruption crackdown will continue, said Andrew Wedeman, a professor at Georgia State University.

"I don't see how Xi could afford to back off at this point," Wedeman said. "A dozen years after he set out to cleanse the senior ranks, Xi is still finding widespread corruption at the top of the party-state and the PLA."

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been swept by a wave of purges since 2023. Li Shangfu was removed from his post of defence minister after seven months. His predecessor Wei Fenghe was expelled from the party for "serious violations of discipline", a euphemism for corruption.

"It would thus seem that the 'pool' Xi is drawing on to replace corrupt officials is also full of corrupt officials," said Wedeman.

"If Xi is promoting corrupt officials, this suggests the party's internal vetting apparatus is not functioning effectively or, more seriously, is itself corrupted."

China admits its anti-corruption efforts face new challenges, with traditional forms of corruption such as accepting cash becoming more insidious.

"A businessman might offer me money directly, and I'd refuse," said Fan Yifei, a former vice governor of the People's Bank of China sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

"But if he gives it in the form of stocks or other assets, not directly to me but to my family, that's a whole different matter," state media quoted Fan as saying.

Even the lowly "flies" and "ants" in China's vast bureaucracy will not be spared in the corruption fight, as Sunday's television programme showed.

"Compared to the 'tigers' far away, the public feels more strongly about the corruption around them," Sun Laibin, a professor at Peking University's School of Marxism, said on the programme.

The anti-corruption fight must reach the "hearts" of the masses, he said, so that they can "deeply feel" the care of the party.