Monday, July 27

China and corruption again

China keeps on popping up on the corruption stakes, but here’s an interesting wrinkle on the fight against corruption. I quote:

Chinese government censors have launched a sweeping campaign to purge any mention of a corruption investigation in Namibia from the internet because it involves a company formerly run by the son of China’s president. The government’s Central Propaganda Department has ordered all Chinese search engines to block any searches related to the case and has also shut down popular social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The crackdown came after African media reported three people had been charged with corruption in connection with a lucrative contract for Nuctech, the airport scanner company controlled by Hu Haifeng, the 38-year-old son of President Hu Jintao.

China is fighting against corruption, very laudable indeed. And frequently shoots or hangs people it finds as corrupt. Again, a bit heavy handed, but that I suppose is that. Here’s the thing which puzzles me. Corruption thrives under darkness, when things are hushed up, when the press isnt free, when the perps are hidden away. By stopping people from discussing things, from publishing aspects of corruption, from debating cleanliness in public service and removing nepotism, how on earth does China think it will control corruption?

This is seriously stupid but they forget that corruption in China is the cause of very many social explosions. Oh! by the way, it was also corruption which brought down the last Chinese Empire.

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