A former local government official, dubbed the "super-expensive- cigarette director," was sentenced last month to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes.
Zhou Jiugen came under fire from Chinese netizens and later faced investigation after photos surfaced online of him smoking $22-a-pack cigarettes and wearing a pricey Vacheron Constantin watch.
The case is one of many examples demonstrating the rising power of Chinese netizens to fight corruption. As He Guoqiang, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, stated Wednesday, the party's stepped-up drive against corruption will give much more weight to online comments and will seek greater public participation in anti-corruption efforts.
Corruption is an inevitable problem worldwide, one that is intertwined with power and money. For an emerging economic giant like China, corruption is an ugly "scar" that needs to be removed immediately.
Among the 180 countries and regions surveyed in the 2009 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index released Tuesday, the Chinese mainland ranked just 79th, with a score of 3.6 on a 10-point scale.
The "scar" is not merely cosmetic: It threatens to do real harm. A healthy China must avoid the stink of corruption.
To some extent, the hefty social cost paid for corruption has been covered up by the economic prosperity China has enjoyed since embarking on its process of reform and openingup three decades ago. The epidemic is even described by some as the "grease on the wheels of Chinese commerce."
But China's reform has arrived at a critical juncture now. With the fruits of China's economic success jeopardized, government credibility eroded and social stability undermined, there are more incalculable direct and indirect social costs in corruption than Chinese society, in transition, can afford.
A clean, corruption- free environment can indeed fuel faster economic growth by boosting integrity in government and the private sector and delivering social justice and increased efficiency.
That explains why New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore, the top countries in the TI ranking, also boast per-capita-GDPs that rank in the top 30 in the world. Studies even indicate that should the TI ranking of Bangladesh, the world's eighth most corrupt country, reach the same level as Singapore's, its GDP would rise 1.8 percent each year.
The case is the same for China: Less corruption would boost the per-capita GDP.
With several high-profile corruption cases uncovered in recent years and those involved prosecuted, a clear message has been sent by the Chinese government: There is zero tolerance for corruption.
Further systematic efforts made by the government – such as the enactment of more than 1,200 laws, rules and directives against corruption, the establishment of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention in 2007, and last month's extension of the crack down with the newly defined crime of "taking bribes by making use of one's influence" – deserve to be commended for the encouraging resolve these measures show. However, implementation is the litmus test.
Combating corruption is never an easy task for any society. On China's road to sustainable prosperity, further advances will be frustrated unless corruption is effectively curbed.
This is a war that must be won.