Corruption and Fraud in China Rampant and Destabilising

China: Corruption and Collapse
Corruption, fraud, plagiarism, and counterfeiting are all rampant throughout China's society and economy, from top to bottom. It is becoming difficult to trust the economic numbers coming out of China, due to rampant manipulation and coverup of any perceived weaknesses. The problem extends from banking, to the government, to the legal profession and judiciary, to academia and the professions, to the construction and manufacturing sectors. People end up dying as a result, in the collapse of buildings and bridges, in plane crashes, in medical accidents caused by practitioners with counterfeited credentials, and so on.

... a third of the 6,000 scientists at six of the nation’s top institutions admitted they had engaged in plagiarism or the outright fabrication of research data. In another study of 32,000 scientists last summer by the China Association for Science and Technology, more than 55 percent said they knew someone guilty of academic fraud.

Fang Shimin, a muckraking writer who has become a well-known advocate for academic integrity, said the problem started with the state-run university system, where politically appointed bureaucrats have little expertise in the fields they oversee. Because competition for grants, housing perks and career advancement is so intense, officials base their decisions on the number of papers published. _NYT

In China, academics close ranks around a plagiarist, making it difficult to clean out the cheaters from more respectable and responsible researchers. The same phenomenon occurs among bankers, judges, lawyers, government construction inspectors, and so on. Cheating, bribery, fraud, and counterfeit are the order of the day -- and the system is built around the dishonesty to the point that it is almost impossible to change.

It should be clear that basing one's future projections of economic demand for many global commodities, on numbers from China's government and banks, is foolhardy.

In a nation full of empty high rise apartments, housing projects, super-highways, shopping malls, factories and office buildings, the connection between spending and economic needs tends to be a bit strained. Throw in rampant bribery, coverups, plagiarism, technology theft and counterfeiting, coverups, and intentional deception at the highest levels -- and it becomes extremely difficult to make solid predictions for the future. Be careful out there.