As a stable tendency in the long term, political trust mainly refers to the positive evaluation of the governing group. The anti-graft efforts will gain, rather than curb, such trust for the leadership of China.

People judge the performance of the ruling party on whether it can punish the corrupt officials that cause unfairness in their daily lives.

Research results from East Asia Barometer surveys show that corruption hurts public trust in politics.

Corrupt officials take up resources that could be used to boost the economy and raise ordinary people's incomes, this dents public confidence in the government.

Shanxi is a province with abundant resources, but corruption has curbed its economic growth and upgrading.

Rampant corruption is also fatal to interpersonal relationships, which is the basis of social trust.

In a healthy society, a citizen feels the goodwill of other people, as well as groups, thus gaining mutual trust in the interaction process. In a corrupt society, the trust is replaced with idolization of power and officials that hold it. Hence the normal social order is disturbed.

Shambaugh, who compares China with the collapsed Soviet Union, fails to see their fundamental differences.

Corrupt officials in both countries formed unions to maintain their privileges; however, while the Soviet Union had a weak leadership that could hardly do anything to stop the corruption, China's leadership has successfully launched an effective anti-graft campaign, and it is drafting regulations to place power in a cage.

Hence only with corruption curbed can China enjoy more political stability.

The author is a professor at Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University.