The high profile anti-corruption campaign led by Xi Jinping since he became president of China in 2013 has undoubtedly made its mark. An estimated tens of thousands of officials — both highly placed “tigers” and more lowly “flies” — have been reprimanded or punished in the far-reaching drive to clean up public life.
This change may have delivered a blow to the purveyors of luxury trinkets and high-end hospitality, who profited handsomely from providing the lubricants needed to keep the wheels of the economy turning ever faster. But it has gone down well with the broad mass of Chinese, who see corruption as the root of many of China’s problems, from environmental damage to disastrous urban planning. Commercial life, too, is now cleaner and more predictable.
So it might seem odd to ask whether it is time for the Beijing leadership to consider some sort of amnesty inthe anti-corruption campaign. Few would argue that more grease is what China needs, but there is a respectable argument for turning a blind eye to illicit emollients that have already been applied to officials’ palms. Those skilled in decoding the pronouncements of Chinese apparatchiks even detect some enthusiasm for the idea in official circles. Wang Qishan, the anti-corruption tsar, reportedly said last month that this was not the right time to consider an amnesty – a tacit acknowledgment that it is an idea whose day may come.