The Internet has long been favored by whistleblowers when exposing corruptive officials. From 2010 to 2012, 156 confirmed cases of corruption first came to light through online news reports, online forums, micro-blogs or organizations' official websites, according to the Annual Report on Development of New Media in China, which was released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in June. Information exposed on the Internet has led to the recent downfall of a number of officials.

Liu Tienan, former Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, was removed from public office on May 14 for "serious disciplinary violations."

In December 2012, on his micro-blog on Sina Weibo, Luo Changping, an editor at Beijing-based Caijing magazine, accused Liu of faking his education credentials, colluding with business people to cheat the government for loans and threatening others.

Weeks after Luo's micro-blog post appeared, the CCDI began investigating. On August 8, Liu was expelled from the CPC and public office after the CCDI found that he took advantage of his position and used it for personal gain. On August 18, the Supreme People's Procuratorate began a criminal investigation into the case.

In August 2012, a picture posted online showed Yang Dacai, then head of the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Work Safety, grinning broadly at the scene of a traffic accident that claimed 36 lives and wearing an expensive watch. The photo prompted further research by netizens, who found more pictures of him wearing different luxury timepieces. Yang was removed from his position the following month and expelled from the Party this February for "severe violations of Party discipline." He was sentenced on September 4 to 14 years in prison on charges of accepting bribes and holding property from unidentified sources.

Though the Internet is effective in fighting corruption, some netizens have offered false or malicious tip-offs anonymously, harming innocent people, tarnishing the victims' reputation and intruding on their privacy, said Xin Ming, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Recently, China has clamped down on online misinformation. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued a judicial interpretation, which went into effect on September 10, stating that those who fabricate facts to slander others on the Internet may face up to three years in prison. The crackdown triggered anxiety among whistleblowers who fear that their reports on corruption will be dealt with as false rumors by corrupt officials looking to retaliate.

"The CCDI website provides an official channel for whistleblowers, while avoiding proliferation of rumors that may be used to defame or blackmail targeted officials," said Ren Jianming, Director of the Clean Governance Research and Education Center at Beihang University in Beijing.

Stronger system

Data from the Supreme People's Procuratorate show that from this January to August, procuratorial departments all over the country investigated 22,617 corruption cases involving 30,938 individuals, of which, 7,080 were reported by the public.

Though websites belonging to discipline watchdogs are powerful anti-corruption tools for the general public to expose corruption, the success of anti-corruption efforts hinges on offline measures.

"The Internet is just a platform for expressing opinions. A long-term effective anti-corruption system depends on discipline watchdog resolutions when investigating corruption, their independence and power, as well as substantial institutional reform," Ren said. He added that improving laws and regulations is instrumental in curbing corruption.

At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on August 27, the top leadership approved a 2013-17 work plan for establishing and improving the system for punishing and preventing corruption.

A statement released after the meeting vowed to reform the CPC's discipline inspection system, redesign anti-corruption mechanisms and improve the Party's supervision and inspection systems at all levels. The document said that the exercise of power by officials must be checked and supervised to create a system where officials do not dare to be corrupt.

Establishing and improving the system for punishing and preventing corruption are also expected to be on the agenda of the upcoming Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November.

At the upcoming meeting, decisions on restructuring the CCDI and giving it more power might be made, according to Li Chengyan, Deputy Director of the Institute of China Supervision.

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