The country is determined to reduce corruption to the minimum
through "unremitting efforts", a spokesman for China's top
legislature said yesterday.
"China has been consistent and clear-cut in fighting against
corruption," Jiang Enzhu told a press conference a day before the
5th session of the 10th National People's Congress.
The government has taken a series of measures to improve the
anti-corruption system, and is responding to problems in a timely
and relentless manner, he said.
The latest example is Chen Liangyu, who was removed from his
post as Shanghai's Party chief last September for "grave discipline
violations" in the social security fund scandal in the country's
financial hub.
Jiang said Chen will not attend this year's NPC meeting, though
his post as a deputy to the top legislature has not yet been
terminated. It will be decided after the investigation is over.
The investigation has proceeded well and details of Chen's case
will be publicized at an "appropriate time," Jiang said.
Last year, 2,744 corrupt officials were removed from their
posts, according to the annual report of the Communist Party of
China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
A State corruption prevention bureau would be launched soon to
help stem graft at its source, the commission's vice-secretary Gan
Yisheng said last month.
Anti-corruption is an issue of most concern to the public, and
it will continue to be a hot subject to be addressed during this
year's NPC session, according to experts and polls conducted online
and off-line by the media in the run-up to the top legislature's
gathering.
Also at the press conference, Jiang rejected criticism that the
drafted property law went against the Constitution, saying it gave
equal protection to public and private property.
The draft is expected to be approved at the NPC session along
with the draft corporate income tax law, which Jiang said will
neither cause massive influence on foreign companies nor affect
their enthusiasm for investment.
Jiang also said relations across the Taiwan Straits would face
"severe challenges" this year as the Taiwan authorities' efforts to
seek "de jure independence" through "constitutional reform" might
enter a "substantive" stage.
(China Daily March 5, 2007)