March 2007
Politics And Corruption: All You Need To Know
Chinese politics is an intricate game played in private behind high walls. We therefore make no effort to offer odds on the races for places in the Politburo Standing Committee that is due to be announced at this autumn’s Communist Party Congress. The record of analysts in forecasting specific personnel changes in China is dismal. Moreover, the game is not worth the candle, as the Party’s personnel system ensures that
those reaching the upper echelons are essentially interchangeable parts. It is more profitable to try to understand the underlying structures of Chinese politics and governance, which are widely misconceived. In this issue, CEQ looks at why authoritarian rule by the Communist Party is likely to last, the significance of the new generation of officials that Hu Jintao has appointed at all levels of the hierarchy and why corruption is unlikely to be the force that brings the Party down.
Also in this issue:
Tom Miller scrutinizes the latest railways investment plan
Joshua Kurtzig assesses the impact of a recent series of major changes in the financial sector
Tom Miller reads China’s latest population planning paper
Laurence E. Lipsher suggests that stepped-up personal income tax collections could make a big contribution to funding expenditures on China’s many social needs