China investigated and dealt with 24,879 commercial bribery cases in first half 2007, with 6.156 billion yuan (US$791.26 million) of illicit money involved.

About 5,523 commercial bribery cases involved government officials, accounting for 22.2 percent of the total.

An official with the central leading group for fighting commercial bribery said efforts are continuing to harshly deal with major and serious commercial bribery cases this year, especially those closely related to people's interests and severely damaged market order.

By June, China had promulgated 125 local regulations against commercial bribery.

Ministry of Supervision, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and the leading group for fighting commercial bribery are amending the Law against Unfair Competition and revising Law on Construction and Regulation on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices, so as to provide more solid legal foundation for fighting commercial bribery.

Media and public are encouraged to monitor and report commercial bribery cases, so as to nurture an anti-commercial bribery atmosphere.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2007)