It was announced yesterday that Jiang Jiemin, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council is under investigation for a serious disciplinary violation. He became the first member of the CPC Central Committee to be investigated since the 18th Party Congress.

Unlike Liu Tienan, a deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission whose corruption scandal was exposed through the Internet, Jiang's case, together with several other China National Petroleum Corporation executives now being investigated, was uncovered by the discipline inspection department, whose central role in China's anti-corruption campaign is becoming more obvious.

With its institutional design, the power of the department was strengthened after the 18th Party Congress. The likelihood of corrupt officials dodging investigation is cut and the fallout of Jiang's case will further ring alarm bells.

In recent years, exposing corruption on Weibo has attracted more attention due to twisting, suspenseful plots. The involvement of a vast number of Internet users has created strong pressure to force out the truth. However, anti-corruption campaigning on Weibo is very random in exposing culprits. The real effect of Weibo cannot compare to cases processed by the discipline inspection department. Weibo is where a lot of tips are reported, but it still falls on the department to launch specific investigations.

Investigation and conclusion of Jiang's case are pending, but it reinforces public confidence in the country's system for netting criminals. Corrupt officials face more risk of being exposed and more people are convinced that China isn't a country where crooked officials can escape punishment. People who dare to embezzle huge amounts of money will face justice sooner or later.

In addition to launching severe anti-corruption efforts, the country is mending loopholes in the system. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee recently vowed to complete and perfect an anti-corruption system in five years to form better deterrence against corruption.

Clean governance is a virtue advocated by Chinese culture but it is difficult to achieve it without effective institutions. Now the government has started to build clean government through institution building, corrupt officials will face merciless punishment. Moreover, the government's power will be caged by empowering society to supervise.

Institutional construction to check corruption is a daunting task, which has extended throughout China's political modernization. The modernization of China cannot build solely on economic prosperity, it has to rely on a more mature political civilization. A sustainable institution to ensure clean governance has to be the core of China's political civilization.