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)