According to the 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)
released yesterday by Transparency International (TI), the Chinese
mainland ranks 70th with a score of 3.3, moving up eight positions
from last year. Hong Kong and Macao were ranked 15th and 26th
respectively, while Taiwan slipped two places to 34.
Taiwan's drop was attributed to recent corruption scandals involving its leader
Chen Shui-bian, who is under mounting pressure to step down as
leader.
The 2006 CPI indicates a clear correlation between corruption
and poverty, with a large number of impoverished states at the
bottom of the ranking.
"Corruption traps millions in poverty," TI chair Huguette
Labelle said.
"Despite a decade of progress in establishing anti-corruption
laws and regulations, today's results indicate that much remains to
be done before we see meaningful improvement to the lives of the
world's poorest citizens."
Professor Hu Xingdou from the Beijing Institute of Technology
said that corruption levels are directly proportional to poverty
levels. The more impoverished a society is, the more corruption
there will be.
The 2006 CPI is a composite index that draws on multiple expert
opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption
in 163 countries around the world, the greatest scope of any CPI to
date. It awards scores from zero to ten, with zero indicating high
levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels of
perceived corruption.
Ren Jianming, a professor with the Research Office Against
Corruption at the School of Public Policy and Management under
Tsinghua University, pointed out that no matter what the rank is
and how high a country's score is, it is still only an estimate.
But considering its scope, it could, to some extent, be considered
to be objective and reasonable.
Ren praised the Chinese government's achievements in trying to
weed out corruption.
He pointed out that on October 25, the International Association
of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA), an independent and
non-political body, was officially established with China's Jia
Chunwang, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate,
as its elected president.
However, he stressed that although the 2006 CPI could be said to
be objective, it might not be an accurate reflection of the current
situation. He reckoned that China could have been given an even
higher ranking.
At the bottom of the index is Haiti with the lowest score of
1.8, followed by Guinea, Iraq and Myanmar who each scored 1.9.
Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share the top spot with 9.6
points, while the UK and US are ranked 11th and 20th
respectively.
(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, November 8, 2006)