Top Chinese leader Hu Jintao Wednesday stressed more efforts should
be made to eliminate corruption, admitting the nation is still
struggling to root out the scourge.
Speaking at a meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central
Committee's Commission for Discipline Inspection, Hu said the legal
system should be enhanced and supervision strengthened to prevent
and resolve the corruption issue at the root.
Statistics from the Supreme People's Procuratorate -- China's
national watchdog on corruption -- revealed more than 200,000
criminal cases involving government officials have been
investigated since 1998. These include 5,500 major cases involving
bribery or misuse of public funds of more than 1 million yuan
(US$120,000).
More than 12,000 county and division-level officials or higher have
been sued, including 25 officials at ministerial level in this
period.
The conduct of Party members should be further improved and their
sense of ethics in particular, said Hu, general secretary of the
CPC Central Committee and vice-president.
He
called for reform of the system in an effort to build a mechanism
that can prevent corruption, adding counter-corruption should be
incorporated into major measures of reform, opening-up and economic
development.
Hu
said it is also important to enhance the supervision of leaders
wielding power.
Corruption has been a major concern among the Chinese public in
recent years. A survey conducted by the Beijing-based China
Mainland Marketing Research Company showed corruption, unemployment
and the widening income gap were considered the top three social
problems last year by citizens.
Pressing on with the punishment of corrupt officials, the Chinese
Government and the CPC have in recent years laid emphasis on the
prevention of corruption, trying to probe deeper to dig out the
root of the crime.
(China Daily February 20, 2003)