2009 Assessment

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

Political interference in anti-corruption efforts is an overarching concern in China's one-party state. There is little separation between the ruling political party and government functions as can be seen in the lack of conflicts of interest regulations across government branches. There is no auditing of public officials' asset disclosures while disclosure forms submitted by political candidates are "untouchable." State contributions to political candidates are fixed but may be increased for influential leaders' "pet" candidates. The Chinese media remains stifled as all outlets are state-run; journalists are forced to self-censor much of what they report. However, fear does not seem to stop the general public from reporting corruption: a majority of investigations by the anti-corruption agency and the judicial branch originate from citizen complaints. Small improvements have been witnessed this year in the ease of obtaining a business license, citizen access to government documents, and the increased role of the People's Congress in policy formulation.