Sex Tapes of Chinese Official and Anti-Corruption Fight  · Global Voices
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Anti-corruption has become the main agenda for the Chinese Communist Party since its 18th National Congress. The newly elected CCP Chief Secretary Xi Jinping warned [zh] all the CCP members in his first Central Committee meeting that if the corruption problem continues it will bring about the end of the CCP and subsequently the end of the People's Republic of China.
There are two possible readings of Xi's statement: that the CCP is really serious about anti-corruption work, or that the corruption problem is so serious that it cannot be tolerated anymore. Corruption has spread to all levels of CCP members and penetrated their daily lives despite past efforts to fight corruption. The purity of CCP members is becoming a joke.
Blogger Zhu Zhenqiang（祝振強）pointed out that anti-corruption work in China has been caught between the “fighting the tigers” or “catching the flies” debate, which explains [zh] why “anti-corruption has brought about more corruption”, despite the fact that there are several successful “tiger cases”:
但是，所有這些，並不能說明反腐敗“打老虎”就卓有成效，並不能說明反腐敗“打老虎”就應打盡打、該打都打。換言之，反腐敗中的“打老虎”、“拍蒼蠅”皆有選擇、有取捨，至少打得不是很主動、很天羅地網，很在劫難逃。這個才是很值得反思、思量的。
[With the above mentioned successful cases], we can't say that we have been successful in “fighting the tigers” or that the anti-corruption work has been targeting “all tigers”. In fact, whether it is “fighting the tigers” or “catching the flies”, the anti-corruption work has been highly selective and calculative. It is neither proactive nor comprehensive; it is more like an unavoidable ill fate. This is something worth looking into.
A screen grab of the leaked sex tape of Lei Zhengfu, a former Chongqin CCP secretary of the Beipei District.
While the CCP chief secretary's anti-corruption talk still lingered in our ears, an obscene sex tape of former Chongqin CCP Secretary of the Beipei District Lei Zhengfu (雷政富) was leaked and went viral online. The video shows a young girl engaging in sexual acts with a 50-something male. At first Zhengfu denied it, but within 63 hours he was under investigation and proclaimed a “former” CCP secretary.
More details of the tape have surfaced. It was shot five years ago, and the sex acts involved were part of a deal between Zhengfu and a construction company. The incident was related to a former Chongqin leader who ordered the heroic figure Wang Lijun to arrest the young woman seen on the tape and the head of the construction company. That's why blogger Yao Xiaoyuan （二爺姚小遠） believes [zh] that the tape being leaked when it did is no coincidence:
重慶的新官已經上任，更高層面的新官們，也已經粉墨登場，站台排座。舊時代或者愚昧迷信地區有臨事祭旗的風俗和傳統，看起來，這次雷政富視頻事件，就是一場高調的祭旗儀式，山雨欲來風滿樓，中國正面臨著一場風暴。但願，這場風暴所蕩滌的，是污泥濁水，而非藉機整肅和排斥異己。
Most of the new government officials and leaders have been presented on stage. According to our ancient tradition, we need some sort of sacrifice in times of abrupt change. Lei's sex videotape can be regarded as a ritual. When the wind comes before the rain, and China is facing a storm. Just hope that the storm will wash away the dirt rather than purge against dissents.
Zhengfu's dismissal, which happened within 63 hours and is a normal procedure in the circumstances, has broken the record of any previous scandal. Scholar Guo Yenyuan (郭賢源) felt worried [zh]:
雷政富是黨的書記，屬於黨的人；但他又是官，卻又沒有經過人民與政府的關係來選舉。於是，我們就需要問，沒有經過人民與政府原則的“官”，他是否有權力的授予關係？如果有人民授予他權力，那出現了問題，也就必定需要按照相應的程序來處置；如果沒有，那麼他的權力來源就存在問題……
Lei Zhengfu is the CCP's secretary; he is also a government official appointed without an election. We have to ask if such a government official has ever been endorsed by the people? If so, when a problem appears, it calls for the issue to be handled. If not, where does his power come from? […]
When power is without public monitoring, corruption is inevitable.
There are also some discussions about the privacy problems involved. He Qinglian's (何清漣) article [zh] refers to the U.S. tradition of dealing with the privacy of public figures, while Hu Caiming (胡賽萌) discussed corruption problems from a gender perspective:
在當下社會，女性的身體如同土地等其他資源一樣，已經淪為一種可以被肆意買賣、租售的社會資源。在權力主導一切的現今，權力擁有主導一切社會資源的天然優勢，無論是經濟資源還是自然資源，甚至包括女性身體這種'新興資源'。這也就是為什麼倍受關注的官僚群體會頻頻發生艷照門事件的根本原因……
Women's bodies have become another resource, such as land, that can be sold and rented out and exchanged. Those who are in power can manipulate economic resources, natural resources or even women's bodies, a new resource in this emerging market. That's why the bureaucrats are so frequently caught in sex scandals.
Very soon after CCP Secretary Zhengfu had stepped down, another scandal broke out online. It was revealed [zh] that Chou Weisi (周偉思), the head of a village committee in Shenzhen Long Gang district, is in possession of RMB 2 billion (approx. GBP 2 million) in assets and is now under investigation. The Internet has become a platform where scandals that involve expensive cigarettes, sex affairs, and luxurious properties owned by the CCP secretary are exposed, while the CCP disciplinary committee is lagging behind in their duty to fight corruption.
Ironically, Lei Zhengfu once made the following anti-corruption speech [zh]:
(領導幹部)要牢固樹立正確的權力觀、地位觀和利益觀，從政先修德，做官先做人，律人先律己，時時處處自重自省、自警自勵，慎行慎獨、慎始慎終，認真算好利益賬、法紀賬、良心賬，自覺築牢拒腐防變的道德防線。
[Leaders and officials] should establish the correct attitude towards power, position and interest. For those who commit to politics, morality comes first. Be an upright man before you become an official. Develop self-discipline before you discipline others. Respect yourself and be reflective. Behave yourself and work with others. Be prudent and cautious in taking any action. Bear in mind, if you have embedded interest, that you must be sure that your decision is in alignment with the law and your conscience. Build your moral baseline to guard against the temptation to be corrupt.
If we don't have an effective mechanism to fight corruption, similar situations will be occur again and again.
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This post was proofread in English by Georgi McCarthy.