China has slipped down Transparency International’s annual corruption index, highlighting the challenges facing the country’s new leadership in stamping out graft.
According to annual rankings of 176 nations published on Wednesday by the Berlin-based campaign group, China is perceived to be more corrupt than countries including Saudi Arabia and Italy.
The report, which ranks countries according to institutions’ impressions of how clean their public sector is, comes a month after China stepped up rhetoric on corruption, to accompany its leadership transition. Xi Jinping, China’s new leader, has warned of political unrest if corruption remains unchecked.