The Chinese Communist Party (CPC) punished 20,768 lower-level
party administrators and local officials working in the countryside
last year for breaking laws or the Party's rules, the CPC
discipline watchdog announced Friday.
Of those who were disciplined 273 held county-level government
or Party committees posts, 20,495 worked in villages, said a press
release from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline
Inspection.
"A clean leadership in rural areas is crucial to a harmonious
society as China is a country with large agricultural lands and a
rural population of 900 million," it said.
In recent years, corruption and inappropriate law enforcement by
village officials were reported to be wide-spread in parts of
China's vast countryside, causing distress to farmers and leading
some to participate in violent protests.
Land expropriation was the most frequent subject of petitions
made by Chinese farmers, with complaints about village finances and
environmental pollution coming second and third.
The central government last October launched a nation-wide
campaign to stamp out grafts and misconduct among rural Party
cadres and government officials.
"The cadres who harm the interests of farmers should be severely
punished," said the circular issued at the start of the
campaign.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2007)