China Law Blog

I'm kind of surprised Taiwan was mid pack. Given all the crap you hear coming out of the Yuan over there, I would have expected it buddied up with China on this list. Thailand's position surprises me a bit too.. I figured it might have been around where Taiwan is right now. As for the rest, seems about right.

Paul- Taiwan more corrupt than Thailand? Huh? What ever's coming out of the various yuans (there's 4, you know), it's a good sight more stable and generally law-abiding than the Thaksins and juntas Thailand has had to put up with!
It looks right to me... actually I would've expected Taiwan to be higher than Malaysia, but there's nothing too surprising.

About Taiwan, don't confuse political shows in the Yuan with what is really happening in the community. There are pretty bad political manipulations. But that's only in the political arena. The real governnance is not too bad.

I am surprise at the high position of Macau. It is a city essentially running on bribes.

The list might factor in legal accountability and enforcement of corruption laws. Interesting to see that China hovers just above the real third world countries despite its bluster about "progress" and what not.

Interesting to see HK and Macau at 2 and 4, respectively. Each has a "Commission Against Corruption" whose head is appointed by the CCP. This article states that in HK in 1997, over 70 percent thought that the handover would lead to increased corruption. http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/15/1500881.pdf

Here's a link to an interview with Lee Kuan Yew where he explains why he thinks Singapore has effectively tackled corruption. He believes that the CCP is "studying" Singapore's methods. http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501051212/lky_intvu.html

Why go for a secondary sources when primaries are available? This would have been slightly more useful if they polled citizens on their perceptions of corruption within their respective states.

It's a shame that China fared lower than Vietnam. How did that happen?

Taiwan's politics is messy, but the bureaucracy is rather non-corrupt in comparison to the Mainland. Part of it is that Taiwanese politics is so cut-throat that people try to make as much as they can over whatever issues do come up.

I think at least Taiwan has shown the willingness to legally tackle the issue.. the ranking probably has as much to do with the willingness to enforce laws against corruption as it actually existing. As for Thailand, they just had a military coup because of corruption. I think they're right where they should be.

It's really tough to measure corruption, for obvious reasons. And "perceptions of corruption" is just a survey of individual tastes and/or a reflection of what's in the media/press; e.g. Vietnam is en vogue and the Philippines is, well, the East-Asian sister to Bangladesh--there is never any good new about either of them.

For example, Thailand has dropped (risen?) in most people's perception of corruption over the last year due to the coup despite the reality that the economy and FDI are still strong--i.e. international businesses are not being scared away more this year than before (less, in fact).

You can't tell me that doing business in Southern Taiwan is more or less moral than Malaysia or Thailand. Ditto Vietnam vs. Indonesia--but then again, how do you really measure it?!

The problem with these kind of surveys is that it is all based on perception. Ofcourse HK and Singapore are less corrupt as they have been actively battling the problem. However the report for example states that corruption in China is most felt on the rural level. How many respondents have experience with this? I would be interested to see the survey results if done again with local people.

Let's look at the survey questions:

How serious do you consider the problem of corruption to be in the public sector?
Not serious 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Very serious

How serious do you consider the problem of corruption to be in the private sector?

How effective is the judicial system at prosecuting and punishing individuals for corruption when abuses are uncovered?

0 = effective, 5 = effective but inconsistent, 10 = ineffective

How serious is the government about fighting corruption? 0 = very serious, 5 = average, 10 = not serious at all

How tolerant are average citizens of corruption?
0 = intolerant, 5 = moderate, 10 = extremely tolerant

Do you perceive the trend of corruption to be decreasing, staying the same, or increasing?
0 = decreasing, 5 = staying the same, 10 = increasing

To what extent is corruption a deterrent to your willingness to invest and expand your business? 0 = not at all, 5 = an average concern, 10 = a major deterrent

Then consider expatriates (in what type of position?) to have taken the survey. How consistent is this group in different countries?

The question about the trend in corruption. Vague at best as it should specify more clearly what is defined here.

On prosecution: how many people have any experience with this or read about it?

Perception is important but looking at the survey you see that there is no correlation between investment and a percieved high level of corruption.

nanheyangrouchuan wrote:
"The list might factor in legal accountability and enforcement of corruption laws. Interesting to see that China hovers just above the real third world countries despite its bluster about "progress" and what not."
The two least corrupt countries/Regions are Singapore and Hong Kong, which are both Chinese. What happen to all those India countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, they must be so clean that they are off the chart. The Indians have never proven themselves to be capable of building anything other than garbage dump countries.

I don't understand Macau ranks high up there. The casinos are controlled by the mobs. As far as Singapore, Lee's family is so powerful and rich, no one can criticize his integrity. His son takes over his position and his daughter-in-law is running the funds for the national reserve... The return was good for last year but all the good things stay in the family.

I think you should actually decide what is corruption especially at the political level . You put Singapore as the least corrupt , in what way , corruption can also be misuse of power and law.
In South East Asia as most governments are authoritarian or dictatorships they should be classed as corrupt.
As I say give me a good definition of corruption , especially political corruption , I think you will be surprised .