Criminal law regulation of liability for bribery in China

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

The current state of the crimes constituting bribery in China shows such trends and characteristics as diversification of crime methods, the phenomenon of “hunting in the environment”, deep penetration into all spheres of state activity, large volume of bribes and high level of latent crime. Criminal legal regulation of bribery-related crimes, since the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Punishment of Corruption of April 21, 1952 first included these crimes in the sphere of criminal law regulation, has passed from a separate Criminal Law, the Criminal Code of the People’s Republic of China in 1979 to the Criminal Code of the People’s Republic of China in 1997 with Amendments to the Code. China’s system of criminal law regulation of bribery has become increasingly sophisticated, presenting such unique mechanisms as coordinated management based on supervisory law and the right to punish, a “parallel approach” to sanctions for the offenses of bribery and corruption, convergence of criminal law assessment of the crimes of civil servants and employees of private enterprises as subjects of bribery, and differentiation of criminal law response to these offenses from “leniency” – a “combination of leniency and severity” – “tightening” to joint investigation and sentencing for giving and receiving a bribe. The analysis of the status of bribery offenses in modern China and the characteristics of their criminal law regulation leads to a number of suggestions, including the application of a separate sanction model for bribery instead of the current parallel model with the punishment for corruption; the establishment of effective criminal law measures to suppress bribery through reliable mechanisms, strict justice, and improved legislation; the application of adequate penalties for bribery committed by employees of private enterprises; identifying new types of offenses constituting bribery using Big Data analysis.

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

Pan Dunmay

Henan University

Author for correspondence.
Email: pangdongmei71@163.com

Doctor of Law, Distinguished Professor of Henan Province, Professor of the Law Institute / Intellectual Property Institute, Head of the Chinese-Russian Center for Comparative Law at the Henan University

China, 85 Minglun str., 47500 Kaifeng

References

  1. Zhan Fuliang. Improving the legal system to combat bribery // Prosecutor’s Newspaper. December 9, 2014.
  2. Yan Haokun, Li Xiufeng. Dilemma and Solutions in the Judicial Definition of New Types of Crimes Related to Bribery from the Perspective of Bribery in the Form of Transactions, Bribery in Gambling, and Bribery in Shares // Modern Trade and Industry. 2024. No. 2. Pp. 211–214.
  3. Li Xiang, Liu Yuanyuan. Punishment for Taking Bribes: Imbalance and Equilibrium // Journal of the Political and Legal Institute of Administrative Personnel of Heilongjiang Province. 2023. No. 4. Pp. 45, 46.
  4. Jiang Tao. It is necessary to distinguish between the penalties provided by law for corruption and bribery // Politics and Law. 2016. No. 10. Pp. 38–42.
  5. Gao Mingxuan. The Origin, Formation, Development, and Improvement of Criminal Legislation in the People’s Republic of China: monograph / ed. by N. A. Sidorova, I. A. Vasiliev; transl. Pan Dongmei, Wang Guanglong. M., 2022.
  6. Zhao Bingzhi. On the legislative restriction and abolition of the death penalty for corruption crimes and bribery using the example of Amendments to the Criminal Code of the People’s Republic of China No. 9 // Modern Law. 2016. No. 1. P. 11.
  7. Zhou Guangquan. On the Circumstances of Receiving a Bribe: An Analysis Based on Recent Judicial Clarifications // Politics and Law. 2016. No. 8. P. 37.
  8. Jiang Tao, Bai Xuechun. On Equal Criminal-Legal Protection of the Non-State Economy // People’s Prosecutor’s Office. 2017. No. 23. P. 12.
  9. Shi Yanan. Criminal-legal protection of various market entities in the context of differentiated management // Bulletin of the National Academy of State Prosecutor’s Office. 2021. No. 3. P. 103.
  10. Gao Chenggang. The Effects of “Light Punishment for Bribery” from the Perspective of Empirical Research // Politics and Law. 2016. No. 5. P. 51.
  11. Zhao Jun. The survival model of government-dependent enterprises and the fight against corruption: the case of bribery by private enterprises // Jiangxi Social Science. 2019. No. 5. P. 184.
  12. Li Shaoping. The Dilemma of Enforcement of Bribery Crimes and the Solution // Chinese Law. 2015. No. 1. P. 8.
  13. Zhang Yong, Jia Mende. Fair Value of Criminal Defense for Private Economy and Its Implementation // Hebei Law. 2024. No. 4. Pp. 57, 58.
  14. He Zhonggong. The paradox of the legal logic of “equal punishment for giving and receiving bribes” // Jurisprudence. 2015. No. 10. Pp. 158, 159.
  15. Zhang Mingkai. Criminal Law. Pekin, 2016. P. 1233.)
  16. Cui Xin, Wang Qingshuang. Promoting Research on Issues Related to Joint Investigation of Bribery from the Perspective of Combating Bribery Crimes // Shanghai Public Security Academy. 2023. No. 6. Pp. 61, 62.
  17. Liu Renwen. Recent Amendments to Bribery-Related Crimes and Their Judicial Application // Chinese Journal of Criminal Law. 2024. No. 1. P. 118.
  18. Zhao Bingzhi. Research on the standards for qualification of crime and sentencing for corruption crimes and bribery // Chinese Law. 2015. No. 1. P. 43.
  19. Pan Dongmei. Research on Corruption in Russia. Pekin, 2020. Pp. 272–276.
  20. Peng Wenhua. Criminal-legal relations and judicial application of crimes related to bribery from the perspective of the 12th Amendment to the Criminal Code of the People’s Republic of China // Chinese Journal of Criminal Law. 2024. No. 1. P. 128.
  21. Sun Guoxiang. The Path of Standardization and Legalization of “Joint Investigation of Bribery” // Chinese Journal of Criminal Law. 2023. No. 4. P. 3.
  22. Liu Renwen. On the Joint Punishment of Giving and Receiving Bribes. Chinese Journal of Criminal Law. 2022. No. 3. P. 68.
  23. Zhao Jun. Quantitative Research on the Strategy of Combating Bribery Crimes // Legal Research. 2022. No. 6. Pp. 166, 167.
  24. Zhang Yong. The basis and model of the criminal policy of “joint investigation of bribery” // Jurisprudence. 2017. No. 12. P. 60.
  25. Zhang Jiansheng. Both Legislation and Justice Step Up Efforts to Combat Bribery Crimes // People’s Prosecutor’s Office. 2015. No. 13. P. 45.
  26. Zhang Yong, Jia Mende. Fair Value of Criminal Defense for Private Economy and its Implementation // Hebei Law. 2024. No. 4. Pp. 58, 59.

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2025 Russian Academy of Sciences