A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) recently vowed to establish an effective preventive mechanism for curbing corruption so as to ferret out high-ranking corrupt officials.

Wei Jianxing, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said the anti-corruption drive this year is focused on requiring self-discipline among leading officials, corruption-related criminal cases, and unhealthy tendencies in some industries and government organs. The commission plans to investigate into cases concerning officials above the county level and severely crack down on criminals operating in finance, securities, real estate, land management, and government purchasing, as well as in judicial bodies, Wei said in the latest issue of the theoretical magazine Seeking Truth.

Judicial authorities should also zero in on big-time smugglers, tax cheats, state-owned enterprise chiefs who violate the law or recklessly handle state property, Wei said. He also called on his fellow workers in the commission to conscientiously supervise important economic sectors and uncover illegal activities.

"Anti-corruption has an important bearing on the state's future, especially in the present complicated international and internal situation," Wei stressed.

Wei said that procuratorial organs have concluded 130,414 criminal cases and punished 132,447 officials including 4,092 at the county level, 327 at the prefecture level, and 17 at the provincial level.

Among these officials are Xu Yunhong, former Party secretary of the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, Hu Changqing, former vice- governor of Jiangxi Province, and Jin Deqin, former vice president of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, who now face punishment for violations of the law. At the same time, the authorities are now attempting to curb unhealthy tendencies in certain departments and sectors. Wei said that the problem of rampant charges on vehicles is now basically settled, improper burdens on farmers have been greatly reduced, and excessive charges on enterprises have been abolished. The state has closed 110 illegal pharmacies and 7,594 unauthorized drug producers and traders, and punished violators in 8,745 cases.

Military organizations have been ordered to end their relationships with their branch businesses, and 19,458 of such businesses have been closed, Wei said. However, Wei said that corruption is still not fully controlled and remains widespread in some areas. He acknowledged that ending corruption will be a long and arduous work.