Speaking at a meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's Commission for Discipline Inspection, Hu said the legal system should be enhanced and supervision strengthened to prevent and resolve the corruption issue at the root.

Statistics from the Supreme People's Procuratorate -- China's national watchdog on corruption -- revealed more than 200,000 criminal cases involving government officials have been investigated since 1998. These include 5,500 major cases involving bribery or misuse of public funds of more than 1 million yuan (US$120,000).

More than 12,000 county and division-level officials or higher have been sued, including 25 officials at ministerial level in this period.

The conduct of Party members should be further improved and their sense of ethics in particular, said Hu, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and vice-president.

He called for reform of the system in an effort to build a mechanism that can prevent corruption, adding counter-corruption should be incorporated into major measures of reform, opening-up and economic development.

Hu said it is also important to enhance the supervision of leaders wielding power.

Corruption has been a major concern among the Chinese public in recent years. A survey conducted by the Beijing-based China Mainland Marketing Research Company showed corruption, unemployment and the widening income gap were considered the top three social problems last year by citizens.

Pressing on with the punishment of corrupt officials, the Chinese Government and the CPC have in recent years laid emphasis on the prevention of corruption, trying to probe deeper to dig out the root of the crime.

(China Daily February 20, 2003)