BEIJING, NOV 2 (PTI): Chinese President Xi Jinping has defended his 14-year-old rigorous anti-corruption campaign in which over eight million officials were punished, asserting that it has a “positive impact” on the country’s economic development.
The 73-year-old leader also rejected the criticism that his anti-graft campaign is stifling China’s economic development. “If full and rigorous self-governance has had an impact on economic and social development, it has been positive, not negative,” Xi told the just-concluded key meeting of the ruling Communist Party Plenum, which has approved further stringent measures to improve party discipline.
Xi, who took charge of the party in December 2012 as its General Secretary and later the government and the military in 2013, argued that strict internal discipline ensured a level playing field in markets, spurred innovation and entrepreneurship, and prevented corrupt economic practices from harming the public interest. The party’s stance would not soften, Xi vowed, declaring that regardless of future headwinds or uncertainties, the leadership would remain steadfast with “not the slightest hesitation or retreat”, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, quoting Xi’s speeches. It is perhaps the first time Xi, who is now in his unprecedented third five-year term and widely expected to get elected unopposed for a fourth term next year, defended his anti-corruption campaign, which has evoked criticism that he is effectively using it to continue in power.
