How ‘Motiva’ China to its officials with an award that nobody wants: “They can blush, sweat and clarify their minds”

China does not escape any details, they have eyes and ears everywhere. Not surprisingly, they lead the world business of facial and voice recognition. And they have 600 million security cameras, which is almost one camera for every two inhabitants. To this is joined by the social credit system applied to people and companies, a kind of card by points with rewards and punishments that vary in relation to their social, economic and political behavior. “From making a hotel reservation and not using it, not separating trash properly or giving few likes through the communist party apps can subtract points,” detailed ABC David Doncel, director of the Master of Eastern Studies at the University of Salamanca. The punishment is the withdrawal of basic services. AND In that hypervigilance, officials are no exception. Now, they have to prevent the dubious honor of receiving the Caracol award from receiving them.

Shame as coercion: the ‘lying worker’

It is a formula that Chinese localities are adopting for ashamed to those state employees who show a low performance for its laziness. And what the images of these awards ceremonies that are televised in some parts of the Asian country are impassive and compounds who receive their certificate against all their peers and the audience.

“Through this sarcastic ‘stimulus’, winners can blush, sweat and clarify their minds”stood out the followers of the Communist Party that indicated that this type of worker damages the credibility of the party and the government. Especially when the economy is in deceleration. The cities that grant it, as is the case of Kunming, Yunnan province, they point out that candidates to receive them gather certain characteristics How not to dare to assume responsibilities, the tendency to postpone, have low work standards and ball to others.

The Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission (CCDI), the internal body of the party against corruption, also speaks on its website of other features such as pretending to work, accepting easy tasks and avoiding heavy. They are the ones who observe «from the barrier and take a detour when they find difficulties. Believing that it is better to do less than more or that it is better not to do anything to do little «, they detail. They are those who hide when they face a crisis. These features add points to finish as a ‘lying -in -law’ (a Chinese expression that Gandul means).

The truth is that this measure makes more than one Chinese official nervous and it is not for the obvious reasons. And it is that the hard line of the leader Xi Jinping does not leave a puppet with a head when it comes to Ensure every aspect of everyday life. And public officials in this country are overloaded for work, while having to monitor residents and companies and can see that at the end of the month they do not receive their salary or receive it late. And «although before the officials competed for awarding striking projects, more recently they have been punished for raising funds or promoting construction projects without authorization. In the end, the safest route, apparently, is doing nothing», Explains ‘The New York Times’.

Does it work to punish lazy to encourage talent?

However, there are other even more hard measures. From saying goodbye to reassign employees or create a database to track the most lazy officials as the one designed in the district of the province of Guangdong. The CCDI reason that adopting hard measures to deal with this type of workers allows to protect the enthusiasm and initiative of those who are doing things or creating business. And he points out that, in 2024, A total of 93,833 problems were investigated in terms of irresponsibility, inaction, arbitrary action and false action in the performance of duties. And 138,000 officials were sanctioned, a figure that folded the previous year.

Dongshu Liu, professor of Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong, told NYT that even if Beijing is encouraging officials to be proactive now, The space to do it is limited. “They want you to work hard, but they want you to work hard to follow the central orders,” says Dongshu. AND Fear is to take a false step that can attract the unwanted attention of a superior. Therefore, the most proactive worker may think that showing initiative does not compensate.

The CCDI is increasing A “combination” of education and reminders, notification and exposure, open and secret inspectionsstrict research and rapid punishment »for comprehensive reform.

Not surprisingly, Xi Jinping emphasized the fourth plenary session of the CCDI that hidden and mutated phenomena grow secretly, corruption problems are closely intertwined and the task of preventing a rebound remains arduous. «The disciplinary control and supervision organs of all levels They must fight resolutely against all kinds of erroneous perceptions and unhealthy trends With a clear posture, and They should not hesitate or shy«.

To do enough is the safest bet when the reward can end up being a punishment. And in that iron control the Chinese leader stressed that the key is «to maintain A high pressure situation without relaxing because the roots are still there and can resurface ».