Why Sex Scandals Might Save China

December 4, 2012 in Daily Bulletin

China has been gripped by a controversial sex scandal. Christina Larson argued that these scandals might be key to reducing corruption in China:

  • Throughout China’s history, mistresses appear to be a fairly common phenomenon.
  • These days however, top officials in the ruling communist party seem to have more than normal. This is because businesses and other interests can use them to bribe officials into giving them favourable treatment.
  • This has led to the rise of citizen-journalists attempting to identify and publicize the names of officials that keep mistresses.
  • By taking such a close look at the lives of its politicians, China might be able to solve the problem of rampant corruption “one [sex] tape at a time.”

Read more about some of the other scandals that have ended the careers of corrupt Chinese politicians over the past decade, and how the communist party responds to such infractions, over here.

Source: Foreign Policy