The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) invited non-Communist personages to a meeting on Wednesday, asking them to step up supervision over the CPC and make joint efforts with the Party to crack down on corruption.

"As the governing party in China, the CPC welcomes supervision from non-Communist parties. We try to explore ways to curb corruption," said Wu Guanzheng, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, the Party's top discipline watchdog.

Wu said that the anti-corruption efforts should be made in political, economic, social and cultural areas, and pledged to establish and improve the legal system to eradicate corruption.

Liu Yandong, head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, chaired the meeting.

Earlier this month, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC reported that last year it punished 115,143 corrupt Party members, accounting for some 1.7 per thousand of the Party's total membership.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2006)?