Xi has shown repeatedly that he’s serious about corruption. As others have noted, some of the highest civilian and military officials have been removed for it. Some sentenced to death.

He sees it as a challenge to his legitimacy and China’s power, which, as you’d expect are the most important things to him; even if you take the most cynical view.

Another timely example, because it is the World Cup, is the Chinese football programs. They’ve been decimated because of corruption prosecutions, both executives and players. It’s a major reason why China isn’t competitive on the global stage, which much smaller countries with significantly smaller budgets can compete. And, yes, Xi does care about competing in the World Cup. Prestige is very important to his concept of China’s honor and global standing.

5 of the 7 highest ranking officials have been purged in recent years [1].

It’s not totally clear what the consequences were for those purged or if their crimes were legit but seems like they are all in prison.

[1]. https://www.afpc.org/publications/articles/the-inevitability...

Xi Jinping rose to power on a message of anti-corruption, and part of the reason he remains in power on an indefinite term is by presenting himself as the "only trusted" person to maintain anti-corruption amongst all the factions.

While I'm sure he doesn't catch all corruption and the CCP overall has selective enforcement, the reason they do have measures like this is in large part because of Xi Jinping's specific reputation and positioning.

I think the way to determine how real this is: is the corruption allowed to damage the real economy? Most of the problems of Africa and South America are linked to that answer being "yes".

Probably not but it's hard to really pin this down. On the one hand, China's rise has in the recent past has been phenomenal but that kind of rapid cleanup has always been accompanied by repression and destruction of political rivals. So. perhaps a bit of both.

At least they try to appear anti-corruption—that's certainly more than you can say about the west.

[delayed]

Not everything that Chinese leadership does is perfect, they have made mistakes, but overall, leadership that is openly like "we need to maintain a tight control over the population for stability" is generally more trustworthy than that campaigns on freedom and small government only to get in power and make themselves richer.

>Would the inner circle members of CCP leadership realistically face the same prosecution and sentencing

no need to speculate, it's already happened. Zhou Yongkang who was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (the highest governing body in Chinese politics) was prosecuted, and up until that point people at the top were considered relatively untouchable. Xi also axed the last to vice chairmen of the central military commission, Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, that's the commander in chief of the PLA.

> Would the inner circle members of CCP leadership realistically face the same prosecution and sentencing, if they were to be caught doing the same?

The west is inundated with simplistic anti-chinese propaganda, so you would never perceive it as such, the way it would be presented to you in the west is as the evil dictator Xi Jingping purging his opposition, for instance:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-41670162

A win is a win. Could there be more wins? Glass is half full.

Killing people in any context is barbaric because it is not possible to bring someone back from the dead.

I’m not a law expert but it seems pretty basic that there shouldn’t be irreversible punishment.

Also there should be equity which means everyone that does the same crime should face the same consequence, which doesn’t happen anywhere in the world as far as I can understand.

So harsher punishment means people with less power will get shafted harder

You can ask the same about inner circle of current US leadership

It will have the same answer, no

who would be able to prosecute them and how?

who would even investigate them

You're trying to approach from the wrong side

it's not a question of "prosecute this one or the other person" - it's the choice between "prosecute this one or nobody"

thus celebration that at least something got done

The top is already pushed with prisoner for life. In a tiered society a well functioning country focuses on the tier that is current bottleneck.

Until his family receives the bill for the bullet of $325M

Hang on. City level officials play an incredibly important role in China. While Nanjing is not in the same tier as Shanghai, Beijing, or Shenzhen, it is in the tier just below them. It is the provincial capital of one of China's most important provinces -- GDP similar to Texas. Many large Chinese companies are often tied to specific cities -- they get grants and subsidies via the city they are located in.

This guy did it over 30 years so it is feasible.

Scapegoat isn't the right term but I think it is very possible he is being executed to essentially send a message. I think your bigger point that there are way more corrupt officials than just this guy involved seems very plausible.

It's not outside the realm of possibility for the positions he occupied. But yes, corruption is selectively cracked down upon in China

That's not how this works. It really depends on how close you are to a position, where people might want to bribe you. Low provincial officials with direct ties to local land development might e.g. be able to take many more bribes than a highly ranked official in an office that is far removed from economic activity.

Over thirty years? I am surprised he didn't take more.

Nah he took the bribes and probably paid 90% upward/laterally. Being the guy that actually takes the bribe is likely part of how he got promoted to where he is, in a way, like a soldier who gets promoted for being a calculated risk taker.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Unless you are extremely crafty, you don’t get to retire from this sort of criminality. Everyone who enabled you wants more and you have a semi-permanent metaphorical sword hanging over your head.

People get away with this all the time—you just only hear about the stupid ones.

I think your logic makes sense, if this was both logical and about the money. But it seems to be more about greed, discontentment, and "more". There is no limit to "more".

This is load bearing guanxi

It's the wielding of power which is intoxicating, the monetary amount just illustrates how many decisions he could personally influence.

It's called greed, as you aptly pointed out.

The culture of bribes is a bit different in China. 'Mutually assured corruption' describes the situation better.

Once you start high-profile criminal activity you have to keep doing it to pay off the right people, as soon as you retire you're fucked.

Think of Breaking Bad. His wife literally asked him this same question. When is it enough?

It's a mentality where you can't stop.

The topic comment at the time I’m writing this is asking fair questions, in my opinion.

- Many people feel the death penalty is wrong in every case.

- Some have a general familiarity with high-level politics of elites and wonder about selective enforcement.

These don’t feel like they’re in bad faith. The merits are difficult to know from the outside, so there will always be speculation based on someone’s lived experience and perceptions. Better to have those aired with a chance to respond, in my opinion.

Especially for China, since it is a global power that operates differently from others. In my own country (United States), for example, we have brazenly open corruption with no consequences.

Most people here are anonymous, for all the discussions. Either trust that your fellow HNers are legitimate, or… ?

If we actually punished corrupt officials and we had some kind of truth serum that forced people to admit yes/no as to whether they are corrupt, I would not be surprised if the majority of officials in the federal government would be culled. Its practically a breeding ground for corruption.

That's a bit harsh. It's not like he took a $400 million jet.