Editorial
Issue No. 560, March 12, 2012
Translated by Zhu Na
Original article: [Chinese]

CPPCC national committee member, Zong Chengli (宗成立), is famous for giving candid interviews. On the subject of study abroad, he has said that every citizen has equal rights, that officials have earned their positions and that our elites should receive more care and respect (关爱与尊重) from society.

The issue of officials’ children studying abroad has been controversial. It appears that Mr. Zong is very happy to speak on behalf of the officials – he says that anyone who harps on about the issue is showing a lack of respect for officials.

Mr. Zong, who is general manager of Shandong-based Yao Wang Pharmaceuticals and vice president of the province’s association of industries and commerce, is being admirably frank, but his focus isn’t quite right.

The most popular master’s degrees in the U.K. last year cost around 180,000 yuan. In the U.S. it was 250,000 yuan, in Canada it was 160,000 yuan, and in Australia it was 160,000 yuan. Therefore, the question isn’t whether officials have the right to send their children to study abroad, but rather how they can afford the fees.
As Ge Jianxiong (葛剑雄), Mr. Zong’s peer on the national committee, later pointed out, the issue of officials’ children studying abroad isn’t about education, it’s about transparency and corruption. If that’s the case, then getting to the bottom of the issue is a way of showing respect for the offices that they occupy.

Restricting the power of officials is an effective way of avoiding corruption. As the well-known quote goes, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

If Mr. Zong is correct and officials are the elite of our country, who have achieved their positions through tests and gradual promotions, then the first duty of society, if society cares for these leaders, should be to protect them from corruption.

This care should be reflected in supervision and restraint of officials’ powers, not by indulgence and overlooking abuses of power.

If, in our attitudes to officials, we mistake worship for care, then we will spoil them, making them arrogant, extravagant and decadent, and harming both them and society.

If officials really understood the consequences of being worshiped in this way, then none of them would welcome such treatment. Showing care for officials ought to consist of establishing a transparent system of supervision that can correct abuses of power.

When power corrupts, it is often linked to money and property, and making details of officials’ assets transparent and public is an effective way of tackling this.

Only when this system is effective, and officials retain their integrity and dignity while serving the people with power vested in them by the people, will they find respect from society. If an official serves the community honestly and his or her property comes from legal sources, then the people are bound to respect him or her.

In this context, NPC deputies, who exercise power on behalf of the people, and CPPCC members, who have political duties, can also demonstrate “care.” They have the opportunity to establish and promote a system promoting this type of "care" and can set an example.

If officials really need care and respect, then this is what a normal society should understand by those terms.