So there’s this …..
Discussion
Do you think it's a good thing? Like a strong deterrent against crime.
Or do you think that this is a way to scare the opposition? Everyone takes bribes but they were on the wrong side of the current power struggle.
Now that requires a long answer. For now, as with most things, it’s a combination of the two.
For now, the primary issue - at least as I see it - was a serious degradation with in the Party when Xi came to power. It was a free for all (rampant corruption) and risked delegitimizing the Party. Power needed to be recentralized and that’s been an ongoing process for the past decade.
Were people caught up by being on “the wrong side”? Yes. But, again for me, that’s a second order effect.