China: Anti-Corruption and the Paradox of Political Power

Luo Liping, a senior official in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China's highest anti-graft body, announced Sunday that the central government had drawn up plans for a new spate of anti-corruption investigations for the coming year. Luo said the CCDI's goal is the inspection of all of the 280 or so organizations responsible to the central government by the end of 2017. The announcement is a warning ahead of the 19th Party Congress to deter would-be challengers from forming cliques -- a declaration that no part of the government will be safe from scrutiny....