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Wen calls for reforms to stem China's worsening corruption
2007-03-17
China's top-down political system and its lack of accountability to its own people are to blame for worsening corruption, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday. "Corruption has become more serious, sometimes involving high-ranking officials in this country," Wen told a press conference to mark the end of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament. "There are many reasons behind corruption but the most important is the over-concentration of power without effective and proper restraint and oversight." Wen called for reforms to weaken the influence of China's bureaucrats, Communist Party cadres and other officials by "reducing the number of items requiring administrative examination and approval." Such officials wield enormous power over business approvals and other decisions, often enriching themselves in the process. "We need to reduce the over-concentration of power and enforce oversight of the government by the people," Wen said. "Governments with large administrations and the power to examine and approve matters are very prone to malpractices and offences such as trading power for money, abusing public office for personal gain and collusion between government officials and business people," Wen said. Corruption has become endemic as China has moved to a market economy while maintaining its communist-style government apparatus. Nearly 100,000 members of the ruling Communist Party were punished last year for corruption, the government said recently, and plans were announced earlier this month for a national anti-corruption agency that will report directly to the cabinet. In the highest-profile corruption case of 2006, Shanghai's then party boss, Chen Liangyu, and around 20 other officials and businessmen were implicated in the misuse of around 400 million dollars of funds from the city's public pension fund. Wen said in his annual state of the nation address last week that Communist Party officials will no longer be allowed to get involved in golf course development, build palatial government offices or spend lavishly on entertainment. Taking land from ordinary people to give to industrialists or property moguls will also be under the spotlight throughout 2007, Wen said.
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