China gets a new system to curb corruption—and ideological lapses

THREE hours into his marathon speech to the Communist Party congress in October, as delegates glanced surreptitiously at their watches, Xi Jinping, China’s president, sprang a surprise. “The practice of shuanggui,” he suddenly announced, “will be replaced by detention.” Shuanggui is a system in which party members accused of corruption are locked up in secret jails, beyond the reach of the judiciary and isolated from family or lawyers. In 2016 Human Rights Watch, an NGO, documented cases of beatings, sleep deprivation, stress positions and other forms of torture in shuanggui jails. That makes it sound as if Mr Xi’s unexpected moveis a step forward for human rights. It may not be.

The abolition of shuanggui is the most visible part of a sweeping reform that in effect sets up an entirely new branch of government. Called the National Supervision Commission, it is designed to streamline...Continue reading