A senior Chinese official on Wednesday urged central government
departments to devote themselves to fighting against corruption
this year.
He Yong, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), stressed at a
meeting in Beijing that central government departments should
improve the education, supervision and self-discipline of leading
cadres.
"Good ethics, which will form a defense barrier against
temptation and corruption, are of top priority in efforts to build
a clean government," said He.
He called for investigations into major graft cases to be
strengthened and sterner punishments to be imposed.
"More efforts should be made to handle prominent problems
related to food and drug security, labor security and damage of
farmers' interests caused by power abuse, bribery or dereliction of
duty," he said.
He also asked state departments to learn from President Hu
Jintao's speech at the CCDI's seventh plenary session, which called
for a more severe and systematic crackdown on corruption.
A total of 3,128 cases directly involving government employees
and 968 million yuan (US$121 million) were uncovered between August
2005 and June 2006, the commission said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2007)