原標題：Is gift giving a courtesy or bribery? Expert’s insight
Gift giving has been seen as a tradition or customary in many countries. But it could easily lead to corruption or briary. China has recently launched an anti-corruption campaign that forbids officials to accept or offer lavish gifts. How to define the line between gift giving and corruption? Expert says it all depends on the giver’s intent and the value of the gift.
「A gift that is given as a courtesy, just say hello, shaking hands, that’s not necessarily understood as being attempted to encourage the official to behave improperly,」 says Kevin Davis, Vice Dean and Beller Family Professor of Business Law at New York University. 「I don’t think small gifts to officials are the problem in China. It depends on what you mean by small. A cup of coffee, a lunch, a modest lunch, that’s properly not the most serious problem that China faces.」 But if the gifts involve cars, lavished vacations, jewelry, huge amount of cash, that might be a problem, he added
Professor Davis said there are many cultures in which gift giving is considered to be customary, such as some African countries, Latin America, Korea. He said that changes in Korea have been seen taking place recently as officials are trying to promote that gift giving culture is problematic.
Meanwhile, most of the studies suggest that the more corrupted countries the less developed they are. But Professor Davis said the difficult question is whether corruption causes underdevelopment or underdeveloped that causes corruptions. And since corruption is difficult to measure, he does not believe there will ever be a clear answer to that.
「China is both developed and developing country at the same time,」 he said. 「I know that there are parts of the country I didn’t see that are clearly still developing. All the data suggests that. Many people in China still have a long way to go. There’s a lot of progress remained to be seen.」
One way to curb corruption is to find capable, honest person who has the integrity to challenge, attack the problems, he said. And transparency also helps. Officials would behave better if there are eyes watching them and people making reports on them. 「There’s a saying in the U.S. that goes, 『sunlight is the best disinfectant.』 So just exposing officials』 behaviors to public scrutiny seems to make a big difference,」 he said.
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