China will advance its political system reform to fight
corruption more effectively, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday.
"We will advance the reform in political system, and we need to
reduce the over concentration of power and enhance the oversight
over the government by the people," the premier said at a press
conference held after the annual parliamentary session ended on
Friday morning.
"We need to make sure all examinations and approvals (by the
government), particularly those involve the interests of the
people, be done in an open, just and transparent manner," the
premier added.
Wen also vowed to bring law-breaking corruptive officials into
justice, "no matter in what areas the corruption cases are taking
place, who are involved and how high-ranking they are."
Wen admitted that with the development of market economy,
corrupt cases occur one after another and are becoming more
serious.
"Education and punitive measures should be combined in the fight
against corruption," he added.
China's high-profile anti-graft campaign brought down a series
of high-ranking officials in 2006, Chief Justice Xiao Yang said
during the session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China'
s parliament.
A total of 825 convicted government officials above the county
level were sentenced by courts in 2006, and of the convicted, nine
were provincial or ministerial officials and 92 were at the
prefecture level, said Xiao.
"The number of convicted officials at provincial or ministerial
level last year marks an obvious rise compared with that in 2005,
which shows that China is indeed stepping up its anti-graft
efforts," said Lee Linseng, an NPC deputy from Hong Kong.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)