Battle against corruption takes time to succeed

The experiences of countries around the world show us that not all corruption campaigns are alike, and that not all of them succeed.

For success, people and their leaders need to sincerely believe that corruption itself is not only morally wrong but-if not that - then, at the very least, that corruption under-mines the country. They also have to believe that official corruption is deeply corrosive: that a corrupt culture in effect punishes those who are honest. And they have to believe that official corruption significantly retards economic development and economic equity. The bottom line being the belief that corruption hurts both the country and the majority of its people.

So if these three convictions are present among the Chinese people and their top government leaders, then experience suggests that the current anti-corruption campaign will be successful in making China a better place. But if the effort is cynical or insincere, as has historically been the case in many other countries, and not just in Asia, then China will have wasted enormous moral and political energy that could have been of colossal value to its rise on the world stage. So far two very powerful "tigers" have seen the inside of the corruption hunters' cage. Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee and the nation's former security chief, and Bo Xilai, the once rising star of the Party.