Beijing:
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s relatives continue to possess millions of dollars in business ventures and financial investments, Radio Free Asia reported, citing a recent report from US sources.
After assuming power in 2012, President Xi initiated an anti-corruption campaign designed to eliminate corruption at all tiers of the Communist Party. This initiative, which focused on both high-ranking “tigers” and low-ranking “flies,” resulted in the investigation and punishment of hundreds of thousands of officials, as reported by RFA.
The RFA report pointed out that the US-backed intelligence agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), indicated that President Xi’s family has maintained substantial financial interests and may have gained from political ties through both private and state-owned enterprises.
“Their high-ranking positions could have provided them with access to privileged information, and both private and state-run enterprise activities might have benefited family investments due to their associations with people in political authority,” the ODNI stated in a report quoted by RFA.
The ODNI noted that centralized authority, a lack of independent oversight, and limited accountability, especially at the provincial level, are systemic issues that foster corruption in China, as mentioned by RFA. The report suggested that these conditions enable government officials to amass wealth through corrupt practices at a rate estimated to be four to six times their official salaries.
“Higher-ranking officials, who enjoy greater access to state assets, gain the most from bribery and illicit financial transactions,” the ODNI reported, using their membership in China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) as an example, as cited by RFA.
“The potential advantages of NPC membership encourage individuals to incur substantial costs to join, often through bribes, and to accept bribes while serving or even after their term to facilitate business transactions,” the ODNI stated, as reported by RFA.
The NPC, which is China’s legislative body that primarily functions as a rubber-stamp parliament, is regarded as a status symbol and a means to gain access to sensitive government information, according to the RFA report.
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