Commentary: Xiao Qiang on graft and the Internet

MANDARIN:  Reporting Corruption on the Internet (08/10/07)

Xiao Qiang (XQ): Today, I would like to talk about the underlying problems of reporting corrupt officials on the Internet. A new trend is emerging as the use of the Internet becomes popularized in China. That is, grass-root Web sites, that encourage the public to report corrupt officials, are popping up all over the Internet. On one hand, the Chinese government is imposing control over the contents on the Internet. But, on the other hand, the government hopes that this new medium will help curb the widespread corruption among local officials by soliciting the help of the netizens in the monitoring and supervision efforts. As a result, many government branches launched Web sites that allow citizens to report corruption via email, with promises that the complaints will be heard and handled accordingly. However, within the current one-party autocratic system, actual contact between the public and the legislation council, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and other internal government supervision agencies is still non-existent. The so-called “accepted complaints” are usually never heard from again. The sites just exist in name only.

XQ: So, as a result, in recent years, many citizens have launched their own anti-corruption Web sites for the public to report corrupt officials. Under the current government regulation, these sites are not considered “government-approved.” But usually, news and articles related to the monitoring and supervision effort can be found on these Web sites which, to a certain extent, have helped raise public awareness of the corruption among government officials. However, at the same time, these grass-roots, anti-corruption Web sites are operating under very difficult circumstances. Major news sites are reluctant to quote their articles, which limits their influence on public opinion. Also, they are afraid to solicit alliances with other grass-roots sites because the government would launch an investigation against them, citing “illegal forming of association and alliance.” And, because of the control imposed on the public opinions posted on the Internet in China, these Web sites are considered illegitimate because they lack government approval and, therefore, corruption allegations cannot be verified through legal channels. As a result, the activities of corrupt officials mentioned in these articles are written usually in general terms and lack substantial evidence. And, most of the time, these sites end up being shut down and censored.

XQ: Under the current political atmosphere, these grass-roots, anti-corruption sites have very minimal social and political influence. The fault does not lie in the technological aspect of the Internet, which actually provides a perfect platform for the public to report corruption. The control of the Internet is a dilemma concerning China’s state system as a whole. And this particular problem is the reason why it is still very difficult to combat corruption at the regional level, even though the Internet is widely used across the nation.