Premier Wen Jiabao vowed Thursday to fight against corruption with
greater resolution and to build a clean government.
Wen made the remarks at a working conference held by the State
Council. All four vice-premiers and all five State councilors
attended the conference.
Wu
Guanzheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central
Commission for Discipline Inspection, and He Yong, member of the
Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, were both invited to the
meeting.
Wen said the anti-corruption efforts are vital to the future of the
CPC and China.
"The CPC Central Committee and the State Council will continue to
regard the job as a major political task," he said.
He
said that, while the previous administration had made marked
progress in this respect, the CPC's 16th National Congress had
demanded further efforts to build a clean government.
"We should take more effective measures to meet the requirements in
the next five years," he said to his cabinet.
He
said, in addition to more severe punishment for corrupt officials,
the supervision of administrative power should be strengthened.
He
asked government officials to be more stringent with regard to
their own conduct and with that of their subordinates and family
members in order to resist temptation.
The government reform of the administrative approval system,
financial management, State assets supervision and the personnel
system should be continued, said the premier.
Inappropriate fee collections in places such as schools, hospitals
and rural areas should be eliminated, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2003)