Beijing: China's ruling Communist Party has said the intense anti-corruption campaign in which several top leaders and military officials were indicted has hurt the organisation and damaged its reputation, amid signs of the anti-graft drive slowing down.
"While it punishes party cadres who have violated discipline and laws, it (also) hurts the organisation, and has caused damage to the party's image," according to a commentary published on the website of Communist Party of China Central Committee for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on Tuesday.
"The consequences of punishing every cadre who violates discipline and law hurt the party far worse than the individuals," Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported, citing the commentary.
The commentary triggered speculation that the anti-corruption agency might scale back or even halt its drive to bring down "tigers" - a term for top officials, the report said.
Graft-busters have detained more than 100 cadres at provincial and ministerial levels since President Xi Jinping launched the drive in 2013.
Those included Zhou Yongkang, the former Standing Committee member and national security chief, the highest CPC official to have been inducted in recent years. Also anti-corruption probes have been launched against 33 top Generals of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
But the campaign is showing signs of slowing down. In April, only one such high-ranking official was held, and the situation was the same in May.
In 2014, authorities announced at least three high- profile detentions every month, the report said. One anti-corruption expert, however, cautioned against reading too much into the use of the term "double-edged sword".
"It's not saying there is anything negative about the anti-corruption campaign," said Zhuang Deshui, the deputy director of the Clean Government Centre at Peking University.
"Rather it says that the anti-corruption (drive) has hurt both party organisations and individuals. On one hand, there has been great achievement in striking at corrupt officials, but on the other hand, the general public might wonder if it is because the government is so corrupt that (so many have been caught)," he said.
Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Lifan said scaling back the drive would be a difficult decision for the party.
"Pushing the campaign to this stage, the leadership is not safe either. If opponents don't die, the leadership will be hurt; that's another way to interpret 'double-edged sword'," Zhang said.
Speculation about the future of the drive was also stoked by the cancellation of a US visit by CCDI chief Wang Qishan. "There are fewer tigers now, but that doesn't mean the 'quality' went down as well. This year, the campaign will sweep across state-owned enterprises and there will be new tigers," Zhuang added.
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