Government data shows that disciplinary watchdogs nationwide filed and investigated 555,000 corruption cases in 2019 in which 485,000 people received disciplinary penalties, with 19,000 cases transferred to prosecutors. In recent years, more people involved in bribery have been investigated and punished in China. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017 stated that strengthened supervision of those either offering or accepting bribes is necessary to forestall collusion and interest groups, adding that severe penalties will be given to those found to have serially offered bribes. Statistics from China Judgments Online show that from 2018 to 2019, courts across the country heard 9,233 preliminary trials for suspects accused of accepting bribes, but only 3,322 preliminary trials for those suspected of offering bribes. Rampant bribery is largely due to the mild consequences for those found guilty of bribery, and it is high time to show zero tolerance toward bribery of any kind.
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