hout clear definitions; nor are there convincing interpretations on the process and degree of overconcentration. Consequently, some important questions are left unanswered. What characterizes first-in-command corruption? Why is an FIC capable of dominating almost everything in the government including personnel, finance and public affairs? How can FIC corruption be prevented? These questions merit in-depth analyses.
This paper aims to unravel the mystery surrounding FIC corruption by examining a number of institutional characteristics of China’s political system. It argues that power concentration, and the resultant FIC corruption, is a deeply-rooted problem in China’s current institutional setting. The paper also looks into the possible political institutional innovations for containing FIC corruption.
The intensification of First-in-Command corruption
First-in-Command is a special term in China’s political system. Though different definitions of FIC exist in the Chinese academic community,6 there is no question that FICs stand at the core of the current Chinese political system with almost all major powers in their hands. The term FIC in this paper refers to the top leaders of the government at different levels, namely the Secretary of a CCP committee. According to the latest statistics on China’s administrative institutions (up to 31 December 2005), the numbers of official positions as FIC in the central, provincial, deputy-provincial7, municipal, county and township governments were 1, 31, 15, 333, 2862, 41636 respectively, with a total of 44878.8 This paper focuses on the 3,243 official positions of FICs at the five levels of governments from the central to the county, excluding the township governments due to the unavailability of relevant data.
FICs have been the officials most susceptible to corruption. A good number of FICs have been punished or investigated in recent years (see Appendix). During the past 10 years, 4 FICs of the 31 provincial governments and 3 FICs of the 15 deputy-provincial governments were punished or investigated on corruption charges. There were more cases of corruption among FICs in the 333 municipal governments and 2,862 county governments though only a few are included in the Appendix. Due to the difficulty in discovering and investigating corruption, the number of the punished corrupt FICs is just the tip of the iceberg. Compared with other official position holders, FICs are more likely to escape punishment, as it is difficult to investigate allegations of the misconduct of those who sit at the top of the power pyramid.
Corruption exists in different forms in China. However, FIC corruption is more detrimental to the ruling status of the CCP and the stability of the state than other types of corruption. China’s leaders have openly and frequently warned of the de-stabilizing effect of FIC corruption that could lead to the subversion of the Party and the state. Deng Xiaoping once