[corruption] shot in the head

In my usual western way, I read about Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the country’s food and drug administration being sentenced to death for accepting bribes and allowing shoddy medicines on the shelves. Even though Radio Free Asia said:

In China’s judicial system, a death sentence passed in an intermediate court is automatically subject to review by a higher court and the supreme court. However, appeals courts in practice rarely overturn such high-profile convictions.

… nevertheless I sort of thought that once all the publicity was out of the way and China had shown the world it cared about this, that the man would slip away somewhere ignominious, to pop up some months later. Not a bit of it:

China executed its former top food and drug regulator on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine, as the Beijing leadership scrambled to show that it was serious about improving the safety of Chinese products.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court carried out the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, shortly after the country's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.

This is mighty fast. They must really want "in" to the American market. And over on the Chinese government website, they're running a poll on whether you think the decision was right. Yes 57.5%; No 35%. What i really like here is the 7.5% who clicked on No Comment.

Imagine if the corrupt pollies in the U.S. and Britain were all to be executed next week. How many would be left in the government?