Defending anti-corruption achievements against the distorted arguments of hostile forces (*)

They continuously put forth distorted arguments to sabotage the Party and the State, denying the results of anti-corruption. Fighting against these false arguments is the responsibility of not only cadres and party members.

Scene of the workshop "Current situation and solutions to prevent and combat corruption and negativity among cadres and party members in the new situation" organized by the Institute of Science , cadres (Central Organizing Committee) in coordination with organizing agencies. Photo: Ngoc Anh

Blatant, unscientific distortion

In the article “The cure for corruption: Institutional change” by Tran Ngoc Tuan on RFA on June 23, 2022, the question was raised: “Can corruption be eliminated in the current regime?”, from which this person loudly asserted: To fight corruption, we must completely change the current mechanism in Vietnam... Only when Vietnam has a multi-party system can corruption be eliminated. This is also the argument repeated in Vo Thi Hao’s articles on a number of websites. To reinforce this argument, they spread the word “Vietnam has been determined to fight corruption for many years, but hundreds of high-ranking officials have still been disciplined in many forms due to corruption”.

The argument that corruption is linked to the nature of the social regime is a blatant and unscientific distortion, because:

First, corruption is a social defect that occurs in every country. According to statistics from 2003 to 2011, Sweden had 1,248 cases of alleged corruption related to public procurement, licensing, planning issues, etc. According to a report based on an analysis of public sector corruption statistics released by the US Department of Justice : "The specific figures and political caliber of Illinois elected officials and business leaders who were implicated, prosecuted, or convicted in 2020 are staggering." The 2020 report shows that Illinois alone had 31 cases of public sector corruption convictions...

Second, if corruption only existed in countries following the socialist path, linked to the sole leadership of the Communist Party, there would be no existence of Transparency International, nor would there be the December 2003 event in which representatives of more than 120 countries around the world met in Mexico to adopt the United Nations Convention against Corruption, nor would there be an International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9.

Looking at the Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International in 2021, Vietnam scored 39/100 points, ranked 87/180 countries evaluated, then certainly, the argument that corruption is inherent, only exists in socialist countries, including Vietnam, is ridiculous, unfounded in both theory and practice.

Is anti-corruption in Vietnam an internal purge?

To deny the achievements in the fight against corruption in Vietnam, hostile forces continue to argue that fighting corruption in Vietnam is nothing more than "internal fighting", "power struggles between interest groups within the Party", "drumming and gong-beating to blind the world". RFA published an article with the title: "Does anyone believe the saying: Fighting corruption in Vietnam has no forbidden zones"; or VOA: "A "purge" within the Party in Vietnam"... All are just distorted arguments aimed at lowering the prestige of the Party, losing the trust of the masses in the fight against corruption of our Party and State.

Corruption is identified by our Party and State as a "national disaster", an "internal enemy", hindering the country's development process, and even one of the threats to the survival of the regime. Therefore, it is imperative to resolutely fight to eliminate this phenomenon from social life. To solve this problem, the determination of the entire political system, the entire nation and people is needed. It is absolutely not an internal purge or a power struggle between interest groups as the hostile forces have claimed. Because:

Firstly, the Party identifies corruption prevention and control as one of the core and central contents of Party building and rectification work. The Party clearly states: “Resolutely and persistently fight to prevent and repel corruption and waste, with higher political determination, stronger, more thorough and more effective actions. Closely combine active prevention with proactive detection, strict and timely handling of acts of corruption, waste, cover-up, tolerance, abetting corruption, interference and obstruction in the fight against corruption and waste, with no forbidden zones and no exceptions.”

Second, along with the thorough understanding of policies and guidelines, in a short time, many regulations of the Party and legal documents of the State have been issued to create a legal corridor for effective anti-corruption. The 2018 Law on Anti-Corruption demonstrates the strong determination of our Party and State in the fight against corruption and demonstrates Vietnam's commitment to improving the level of compliance with the International Convention on Anti-Corruption.

Third, with the wise and resolute leadership of our Party and State, anti-corruption activities in recent times have achieved outstanding results, consolidating the trust of the masses and the recognition of the international community.

In 2022, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Report of Transparency International, Vietnam is one of 6 countries in the Asia-Pacific region with outstanding progress. In the CPI ranking of 180 countries and territories, Vietnam has improved 10 places, from 87th (in 2021) to 77th (in 2022).

Will fighting corruption weaken the economy?

Faced with the undeniable achievements of the Party and State's anti-corruption campaign, hostile forces continue to use the trick of claiming that fighting corruption will weaken the economy and paralyze economic activities. RFA on November 28, 2022 published an article by Francesco Guarascio with the argument: "The widespread anti-corruption campaign of the Communist Party of Vietnam is paralyzing many economic transactions, possibly affecting foreign direct investment and reducing exports." VOA Vietnamese on November 29, 2022 claimed: Vietnam's anti-corruption campaign is paralyzing the investment supply chain, paralyzing many normal domestic transactions, causing shortages of essential goods and reducing investor confidence.

This argument is completely baseless. Because:

Firstly, corruption is considered a social evil that hinders the economic development of a country, destroys the prestige and honor of the ruling forces and leaders of the country. It depletes domestic investment sources, causes serious loss of public assets, erodes the state budget, significantly reduces foreign direct investment flows, hinders macroeconomic activities, and hinders the operations of economic units... If not promptly prevented, corruption will become a serious threat to socio-economic development, threatening the survival of the regime.

Second, if the anti-corruption campaign paralyzes the economy, this activity will not receive special attention from the international community and countries to solve this problem. For example, the administration of US President Joe Biden on December 6, 2021, also had to announce a new strategy to fight corruption and illegal financial activities. The Ministry of Finance of this country has introduced measures to deal with those who take advantage of the US real estate market to hide assets... in order to clean up internally and continue to develop the country.

In fact, with all the achievements on this front, people's confidence has been gradually consolidated, our position in the international arena has been enhanced, and Vietnam is becoming a market that foreign investors are interested in.

Assessing the task of preventing and combating corruption, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Steering Committee on Preventing and Combating Corruption and Negativity on November 18, 2022, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Head of the Steering Committee, emphasized: “The more we promote the fight against corruption and negativity, the stronger our Party will become, the more it will consolidate and strengthen people's trust in the Party, the State and the regime, making the apparatus clean, tightening discipline and order, making an important contribution to promoting socio-economic development, maintaining political stability, strengthening national defense, security and foreign affairs, and at the same time rejecting the false arguments of bad, hostile and opposing forces that the fight against corruption and handling of erring cadres and Party members is "internal fighting", "factionalism", "discouraging" others.

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(*) Second prize-winning article of the third political essay contest to protect the Party's ideological foundation in 2023 of Hanoi city.

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