The National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday accepted the
resignation of former deputy commander of the navy of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army (PLA), Wang Shouye, who faces charges of
economic crimes.
Wang was dismissed from his post as deputy commander of the PLA
Navy by the Central Military Commission.
According to documents submitted to the NPC, an unmarried young
woman admitted to authorities that she had been involved in an
"improper relationship" with Wang "for a long time."
In January this year, the army ordered discipline measures be
taken against Wang and later removed him from his post due to his
"loose morals" and abuse of power by soliciting and accepting
bribes. His actions were described as serious violations of the law
and military codes of conduct.
"Because of my involvement in economic crimes, I had been
stripped from the post of deputy navy commander and thus I am no
longer qualified to be a deputy in the NPC. Please remove me from
my position," Wang said in his resignation letter dated March 29,
2006.
Born in September 1943, Wang joined the PLA at the age of 24 as
a civil engineering graduate from Tianjin University. He rose to
the head of the camp construction unit of the PLA General Logistics
Department in 1995. He was appointed deputy navy commander of the
PLA in 2001 and later promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
Two other deputies of the NPC also had their membership
cancelled for having engaged in illegal business activities.
Ge Zheng, 45, board chairman of the Tonghe Investment Holding
Co. Ltd in eastern Zhejiang Province, was expelled for "illegal
collection of public funds," and Luo Zeqin, 47, board chairwoman of
the Eighteen Treasures Health Care and Medicine Co. Ltd in southern
Guangdong Province, was expelled for "tax
evasion."
A number of high level corruption cases have been in the
spotlight recently, including the sacking of a couple of
high-ranking officials such as Beijing's vice mayor Liu Zhihua, who
was removed for corruption and "bad morals" on June 11.
Also on Thursday, a court opened in east China's Anhui province to hear the case of former
deputy head of provincial finance department Kuang Bingwen and his
son Kuang Zhongpin, who are charged with taking 861,000 yuan and
US$51,000 in bribes, and embezzling public funds.
Observers said the CPC is dealing with corruption by "killing
flies as well as killing tigers," a tradition that has not changed
over the Party's 85-year history.
The Party will celebrate its 85th anniversary on Saturday.
"China's top leaders are fully aware of the graft situation, and
have taken solid and powerful actions to fight corruption," Beijing
University law professor, Chu Huaizhi, told Xinhua in an
interview.
China's anti-graft efforts are moving forward fast, Chu
said.
"A high incidence of corruption, involving even high-ranking
officials, is unavoidable phenomenon until a market-oriented
economy is fully established in China," Chu said, adding that the
frequent exposure of corruption cases, however, displays the
gradual maturation of the anti-graft mechanism.
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China was among the first countries to sign the UN Convention
Against Corruption, and this also demonstrates its determination to
fight graft, Chu said.
Last year, China's procurators investigated 8,490 government
officials, including eight at the ministerial level.
China's courts convicted 1,932 government officials of graft,
six of whom were ministerial-level officials.
(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2006)