THE 18TH COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA CENTRAL commission for Discipline Inspection recently published the concluding report of its fifth plenary session, which listed State-owned Enterprises as the next main targets of anti-graft storm. Comments:

SOEs have long been notorious for rampant corruption and the root of the problem lies in their distorted power structure, in which the head of the company decides everything without consulting others. Worse, instead of being the winner of fair competition, the person in this position is nominated by higher bureaucrats, which leaves loopholes for them to trade the nomination for profit. It is necessary to change the mechanism in order to root out corruption.

Li Yongzhong, senior researcher and deputy dean of the China Discipline Inspection and Supervision College, Jan 18