China will advance its political system reform to fight corruption more effectively, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday.

"We will advance the reform in political system, and we need to reduce the over concentration of power and enhance the oversight over the government by the people," the premier said at a press conference held after the annual parliamentary session ended on Friday morning.

"We need to make sure all examinations and approvals (by the government), particularly those involve the interests of the people, be done in an open, just and transparent manner," the premier added.

Wen also vowed to bring law-breaking corruptive officials into justice, "no matter in what areas the corruption cases are taking place, who are involved and how high-ranking they are."

Wen admitted that with the development of market economy, corrupt cases occur one after another and are becoming more serious.

"Education and punitive measures should be combined in the fight against corruption," he added.

China's high-profile anti-graft campaign brought down a series of high-ranking officials in 2006, Chief Justice Xiao Yang said during the session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China' s parliament.

A total of 825 convicted government officials above the county level were sentenced by courts in 2006, and of the convicted, nine were provincial or ministerial officials and 92 were at the prefecture level, said Xiao.

"The number of convicted officials at provincial or ministerial level last year marks an obvious rise compared with that in 2005, which shows that China is indeed stepping up its anti-graft efforts," said Lee Linseng, an NPC deputy from Hong Kong.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)