From Carnegie Endowment for International Peace website:
With its economy soaring at around 10 percent a year for nearly three decades, China’s ascendance seems unstoppable. High savings, integration into the global economy, and private entrepreneurship are expected to power Chinese economic growth for years to come. Behind China’s dynamism, however, lurk many dangers that could derail the Middle Kingdom’s reemergence as a great power: environmental degradation, population aging, rising inequality, a tattered social safety net, and, above all, endemic corruption.
Combating corruption is perhaps one of the toughest tasks ahead because it requires politically difficult reforms so far eschewed by Beijing for fear of undermining the supremacy of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But without intensifying its fight against official corruption, the Chinese government runs many serious risks. The experiences of other developing countries show that runaway corruption undermines critical governing institutions, fuels public resentment, exacerbates socioeconomic inequality, creates massive economic distortions, and magnifies the risks of full-blown crises. The failure to contain official corruption will inevitably endanger China’s economic development. [Full Text]
Minxin Pei is a senior associate and director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
