Our Daily will publish a commentary Friday to hail the execution of a former high-ranking official "a victory of justice and rule of law".

Entitled "Severely Punish Corrupt Officials and Ring the Alarming Bell Ceaselessly", the commentary marks Thursday's execution of Cheng Kejie, a former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).

Cheng, who was also former deputy secretary of the regional Party committee and former chairman of the government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China, "used his powers to accept huge amounts of bribes and was severely punished according to law," the commentary says.

Cheng has only himself to blame and deserves the punishment, the commentary adds. It calls Cheng a "typical corrupt element", as his criminal activities has damaged the reputation of the Party and the government.

The execution of Cheng indicates that the Party and the government have further heightened penalties for punishing corruption in accordance with the law, which is sure to further consolidate the confidence of Party members, officials and local residents to combat corruption, it says.

Cheng is the highest-ranking Chinese official executed for bribery since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The severe punishment against Cheng has displayed the determination of the CPC Central Committee to strictly control the Party and severely punish corruption, the commentary stresses.

Opposing corruption is a serious political struggle which is decisive to the fate of the Party and the nation, it says.

Cheng's case shows that the CPC is completely capable of eliminating cancers invading into the body of the Party, by its own powers, to maintain its progressive nature and purity, the commentary points out.

The judicial judgment on Cheng's case symbolizes the requirements for governing the nation with law and the principle of equality of all people before the law, it says.

Cheng's case serves as another warning to Party members and officials, the commentary says, asking them to think about this when holding leading positions.

Phrasing it as a long-term and difficult task for the Party to fight against corruption, the commentary urges to further strengthen the crack-downs so as to firmly curb the spreading of corruption, on the one hand, and clean up soils for the birth and spreading of corruption by deepening reforms, on the other.

It proposes that the Party's internal supervision and public supervision be improved and judicial departments at different levels make full use of legal means to harshly punish corrupt officials.

(People’s Daily)