英字新聞
読売、毎日、朝日各社英字新聞の主として社説を学習研究します

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 10
EDITORIAL: Panama Papers question China leadership’s legitimacy
（社説）パナマ文書　中国政権の正統性問う

After three years of persistently pursuing a rigorous anti-corruption campaign, the administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping is now facing a serious credibility crisis.
The administration’s drive to clean up the rot within the government and the Communist Party has won public support because the unusually tough crackdown has led to a slew of arrests and indictments of political heavyweights. Many party bigwigs are still under investigation.
　中国の習近平（シーチンピン）政権は発足から３年、一貫して「反腐敗」を掲げている。大物の摘発を辞さず、従来とは違う強い姿勢で臨んできたことが支持された。いまも連日、共産党幹部が取り調べを受けている。

But the so-called Panama Papers, or millions of internal documents about hidden wealth leaked from a Panama-based law firm, have implicated some members of China’s most powerful policy body.
The names mentioned in the leaked documents include the husband of Xi’s elder sister and relatives of Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, two other members of the Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee. They were shareholders in companies registered in overseas tax havens, according to information obtained and made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
　ところが、国際調査報道ジャーナリスト連合（ＩＣＩＪ）が入手した「パナマ文書」によれば、習国家主席の姉の夫のほか、共産党政治局常務委員である劉雲山（リウユンシャン）、張高麗（チャンカオリー）両氏の親族が、租税回避地に設立した会社の株主となっていた。

The disclosures raised suspicions that the leaders who have been acting as champions of the anti-corruption crusade are corrupt themselves. The leaked documents have cast serious doubt on the administration’s credibility and moral rectitude.
　反腐敗の旗振り役も腐敗しているのではないか。政権のあり方に疑問を突き付けている。

The Panama Papers also cite five relatives of former Chinese leaders including the husband of Mao Tse-tung’s granddaughter.
　ほかにも毛沢東の孫の夫を含め、元指導者の親族５人の名前が挙がっている。

Chinese authorities have imposed a strict media blackout to block public access to information concerning the Panama Papers.
　中国当局はパナマ文書に関する情報にアクセスできないよう統制を敷いた。

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has refused to comment on any of the many questions about the topic posed by foreign media.
外務省は国外メディアの再三の問いかけにもノーコメントだ。

But the government has been unable to stop the embarrassing facts about top leaders from becoming known widely among the people.
それでも多くの市民に知れ渡るのは止められない。

The phrase “husband of an elder sister” has already become fashionable on the Internet.
早くも「姉の夫」がネット上で流行語となった。

We have heard a raft of stories about how relatives of Chinese leaders have taken advantage of their positions to win the rights to use state-owned land and made huge profits through real estate investments.
　指導者の親族が地位を利用して国有地の使用権を得たうえ、不動産投資で金もうけをしている――といった話は中国でよく耳にする。

It is unclear whether reported secretive offshore financing is related to such dubious wealth accumulated through abuse of political privileges.
今回の事例が、そうした特権的手段による蓄財と関連するのかどうかは、まだ明確には分からない。

But two things are clear.
　だが、言えることが二つある。

One is that people around China’s top leader have amassed amounts of wealth well beyond the imagination of ordinary citizens in the country.
　一つは、最高指導者の周辺で、市民感覚とかけ離れた巨大な富が蓄えられているという現実だ。

The other is that they have taken the trouble to set up companies in remote offshore tax havens.
　もう一つは、彼らが遠く海外の租税回避地にわざわざ会社を設立していたということだ。

Why have they transferred their assets to such companies far away from home? The only plausible explanation is that they were trying to hide their money from Chinese authorities’ oversight.
この仕組みを使って資産を移しているのはなぜか。中国当局の目が届かないところに隠そうとする意図があったとしか考えられない。

These leaders deserve to be criticized for putting a higher priority on protecting the profits of their kin than on promoting the nation’s development. That’s at least how Chinese citizens will think about the revelations.
　国を指導する立場にありながら、国の発展よりも一族の利益を守ることを優先している、とみられても仕方がないだろう。少なくとも市民はそう受け止める。

At least three of the seven members of the paramount leadership organ have been implicated.
そのような最高指導部メンバーが現職７人のうち３人もいたのである。

China lacks a system under which its leaders are chosen through free and fair elections.
　中国は、自由で公正な選挙によって指導者が選ばれる制度を欠いている。

If the Communist Party government is to win public support for its rule of the nation, it must ensure that the living standards among the people will keep rising.
それでも今の共産党政権が国民の支持を得るとすれば、人々の生活水準を向上させることによるほかない。

If the party’s leaders are working hard to make themselves far richer than citizens, however, the very foundation of the legitimacy of the party’s monopoly on power could be seriously undermined.
　だが、党指導部がそれをはるかに上回る私利を図っているとすれば、共産党支配の正統性は根本から揺らぎかねない。

The documents that tell sordid stories about relatives of top Chinese leaders are widely available across the world. It is hard to imagine how the Xi administration will be able to get away with this scandal without offering convincing explanations.
　証拠となる文書は全世界にさらされている。このまま説明なしに済むとは思えない。