Net’s Role in Fighting Corruption Praised
He Guoqiang (贺国强), Politburo Standing Committee member and head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, recently spoke about the utility of the Internet as a channel to gather comments for fighting corruption. From China Daily (h/t Danwei):
He, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said channels should be expanded to solicit public opinions and efforts be made to give full play to the positive role that the Internet has had in the fight against corruption.
“He’s remarks showed the unprecedented resolute determination of the CPC to fight corruption, and it will lead to powerful practice,” said Ye Duchu, a senior professor with the Central Party School.
“The top officials of the CPC have realized that online opinion is a weapon to curb graft, but it is a tough decision for them to make as the Party had been very cautious about handling information against a Party member,” Ye said.
POSTED COMMENTS: 2 Responses
The power of the ‘netizen’ as a potential voice for dissent is one of the most encouraging developments in China, and is probably the best outlet for popular grievances. However, there is a flip side to this coin, as too much of what I read on Chinese forums is rabidly nationalistic.
Tren,
First, thanks for reading. Second, I agree with you, and want to add some thoughts. Chinese netizens hardly constitute a monolithic group, so it would be interesting to see who is making grievances (e.g., using websites like 12388.gov.cn), who is making nationalist comments, and where — or if — these netizens might overlap.