(June 22, 2011)

WU Yuliang

Vice Chairman, CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning. It is a great pleasure for me to attend this press conference in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and brief you on the efforts of CPC to fight corruption and promote integrity. Thank you for your attention and participation.

Corruption is a social and historical phenomenon, and also a universal ailment mostly concerned by all governments and peoples in the world. The CPC has always attached great importance to the fight against corruption. During the revolution times, faced with the complicated and difficult circumstances, the CPC paid much attention to the prevention of corruption, regarding it as a task of political significance. August 1926, the Party's first anti-corruption instrument, the "Notice on Resolutely Eliminating Corrupt Members" was issued. From April to May 1927, the first special organ to safeguard and enforce Party discipline, the Central Supervision Commission, was elected in the Party's 5th National Congress. The CPC had made all efforts to meet the demand of anti-corruption and integrity promotion in all of its undertakings, laying a solid foundation for the great success in the New Democratic Revolution of China.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC carried out timely the Three-anti Campaign and the Five-anti Campaign¹. It put an iron hand on corruption and embezzlement, with LIU Qingshan, ZHANG Zishan and other corrupt officials severely punished and the Party disciplines and state laws successfully safeguarded. Meanwhile, the Party's discipline inspection commissions and state supervision agencies were established, and the supervision on Party cadres strengthened. These measures not only helped to maintain the advancement and integrity of the Party and consolidated the fledging socialist regime, but also laid down an important foundation for the development of the following anti-corruption and integrity promotion endeavour in the new era of reform and opening-up.

Over the thirty years of the reform and opening-up, especially since the entry into the 21st century, the anti-corruption work of the CPC has witnessed further development and innovation, with notable progresses achieved. In adherence to the principle of "tackling corruption from both its root and symptoms in a comprehensive way; combining punishment with prevention with emphasis on the latter", the CPC successively issued the "Implementing Program for Building and Perfecting a System for the Punishment and Prevention of Corruption" and the "2008-2012 Work Plan". While continuing to resolutely punish corruption, more focus has been put on the elimination of root causes, the prevention and the institutional construction, expanding the work of preventing corruption from its very source. In this way, the long-lasting educational mechanism against corruption, the institutional system of anti-corruption and upholding integrity and the power execution monitoring mechanism have gradually taken shape, and a path with Chinese characteristics and consistent with China's reality has been explored and pursued.

In accordance with the arrangements of the Party's Central Committee, all regions and departments have spared no efforts to fight corruption and uphold Party integrity. Significant achievements have been made especially in the following three aspects.

First, resolutely strengthening punishment on activities in violation of disciplines and laws. We have seriously investigated into the corruption committed by Party cadres and public officials, with special attention to the embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power by major departments and leading officials, the breach of discipline and violation of laws in key areas and sectors, the serious cases in violation of political and personnel disciplines, and the abuse of power and corruption cases related to serious accidents and mass incidents. The strong momentum to curb corruption has been maintained. In 2010, 139,621 cases were put on file in the discipline inspection commissions nationwide, 139,482 cases concluded, 146,517 people given disciplinary punishment, and 5,373 transferred to judicial agencies for criminal proceedings.

Second, effectively preventing corruption by strengthening education, perfecting systems and intensifying supervision. We provide education on ethical conducts for all Party cadres and public officials, foster integrity culture in the society, stress on the improvement of laws and regulations to regulate the activities of Party cadres. We have also reinforced power supervision and control, launched inspection tours around the country, and strengthened the oversight over leading officials at various levels. With regard to the key corruption-prone areas and sectors, we have made vigorous efforts to push forward institutional reforms and innovations, establish new systems and prevent corruption from its source in the administrative examination and approval system, the personnel system, the judicial system, the fiscal management system, the investment system and the financial system. For example, we have deepened the reform in administrative examination and approval system since 2001. Over 2,000 government administrative examination and approval items were removed or revised at the central level and more than 77,000 at local levels, accounting for more than half of the original total number of the items required for administrative examination and approval. In this way, we have improved work efficiency and reduced the chances for rent-seeking.

Third, strengthening international anti-corruption cooperation and exchanges so as to combat corruption with joint efforts. We have attached great importance to and actively participated in international anti-corruption cooperation and exchanges. The bilateral anti-corruption cooperation between China and other countries and regions has been institutionalized. Up to now, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision have set up friendly relations with nearly 80 countries and regions, and signed cooperation agreements with anti-corruption agencies of Poland, Russia and other countries and regions. Since 2005, we have established mechanisms for contact, regular discussion and information exchange with our US counterpart via the anti-corruption working group under the China-U.S. Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement. Meanwhile, we have actively participated in the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative and helped to promote the anti-corruption exchanges and cooperation within the APEC framework. In addition, we held, jointly with other departments, the 7th International Anti-Corruption Conference, the 7th Plenary Conference of Asian Ombudsman Association, and the APEC Anti-Corruption Workshop, etc. Through the various forms of communication and cooperation, we have not only learned the good anti-corruption practices of other countries, but also provided the international society with the opportunity for a deepened understanding of China's anti-corruption work.

The above is a brief introduction of the CPC's work on anti-corruption and upholding integrity. In order to give you a more comprehensive view, we have prepared some background documents for further reference. Thank you for your consistent concern and support of our efforts in the fight against corruption and promotion of integrity for the past years.

Note:

1. The Three-anti Campaign refers to the campaign against "Embezzlement, Profligacy and Bureaucratism" and the Five-anti Campaign to that against "Bribe, Tax Evasion, Stealing State Assets, Scamping Work and Stinting Material, and Stealing Economic Intelligence".