The Central Committee of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) has outlined a mechanism that will aim to punish and
prevent corruption among Party members through education and
supervision.
"It's the CPC Central Committee, with Hu Jintao as
general secretary, that has proposed to establish a mechanism to
punish and prevent corruption," said the outline, proclaiming that
anti-corruption measures are crucial for the Party.
According to a schedule set by the outline, the
basic mechanism should be in place by 2010 and ready to develop
further.
"We should pay closer attention to the prevention
and elimination of corruption at source," the outline says.
"Anti-corruption education should be oriented towards the whole
Party and the whole of society, but with leading cadres as
focus."
It adds that the mechanism is a pressing but
long-term initiative given that anti-corruption remains a serious
problem.
"Practices indicate that lack of sufficient
education, shortage of mechanisms curbing graft and weak
supervision are the key causes for corrupt activities," it
says.
In the meantime, officials from the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic
planning body, have started a training program on how to detect and
combat corruption.
Over 110 officials, NDRC's special inspectors of
major projects, are learning from Hong Kong consultants. Their
eight-day training program started on January 11, the Beijing
Legal Evening News reported.
"Most of the lecturers are senior anti-corruption
officials from Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC) and the Department of Justice, as well as
professors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)," Kwok
Man-wai, ex-deputy commissioner of ICAC and one of the teachers,
was quoted as saying.
Ren Jianming, an expert on clean governance from
Beijing’s Tsinghua University, also lectured for the class. He
outlined types and reasons of corruption in the Chinese
mainland.
The training is the first of its kind sponsored by
CUHK and NDRC. In September 2003, CUHK launched the world's first
full-time course on fighting corruption.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2005)