Quick questions on The anti-corruption campaign explained: H2 China Studies

On taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping launched the most sustained and far-reaching anti-corruption campaign in the history of the People's Republic, warning that corruption could lead to "the collapse of the Party and the fall of the state." The campaign was framed by the slogan of targeting both "tigers and flies," that is, senior leaders and low-level officials alike. It was driven through the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which investigated and disciplined officials, often using the secretive internal detention process known as shuanggui. Over the following years, hundreds of thousands of officials were disciplined, and a string of very senior figures, the "tigers," were brought down.

At the same time, the campaign was a formidable instrument of political consolidation. Several of the most prominent "tigers," including the former domestic-security chief Zhou Yongkang and the ambitious regional leader Bo Xilai, were rivals or their associates, and their removal cleared potential challengers and intimidated factions. Because anti-corruption investigations could be directed where the leadership chose, and because almost any official could be found vulnerable given how widespread corruption had been, the campaign gave Xi Jinping a tool to discipline the entire Party elite and to centralise authority around himself. The 2018 supervisory commission also concentrated this power in a single, leadership-aligned body.

Explain why reform-era economic change created opportunities for corruption. [4 marks]

Explain why corruption came to be seen as a threat to the Party's survival. [12 marks]

"The anti-corruption campaign achieved more in consolidating power than in cleaning up government." How far do you agree? [20 marks]