Chinese Premier on Building Clean Government

Premier Zhu Rongji today said, "we have made notable achievements over the past few years in fighting corruption and building a clean and honest government, but we still fall far short of what the central authorities require of us and what the people expect of us."

Addressing the opening meeting of the Third Session of the Ninth NPC, Zhu Rongji called on the government to be strict with itself in carrying out its official duties in accordance with the law and to be honest, diligent, pragmatic and efficient. The premier criticized that certain government functionaries are indifferent to the well-being of the people. Bureaucracy, formalism, falsification and exaggeration are rampant. The emergence and spread of certain types of corruption and undesirable practices have not been brought under control. Lax management in many fields and organizations results in poor efficiency, and tremendous losses and waste.

Zhu said, "Ours is a people's government. Honesty in the performance of official duties is the most rudimentary requirement for governments at all levels."

He called for greater efforts to be made to fight corruption and build a clean and honest government, and to practise strict economy and combat extravagance and waste.

He urged the governments at all levels to further transform the functions and carry forward the reform of government institutions, and to conscientiously subject themselves to the supervision of the people.

On anti-corruption struggle, the premier placed four demands: First, we should continue to strictly follow the "Code of Conduct for Building a Clean and Honest Government" and other regulations formulated by the CPC Central Committee and work hard to ensure that leading cadres are clean, honest and self- disciplined," he said.

He said that government functionaries at all levels must observe relevant regulations and laws and, in particular, leading cadres should stay clean and honest and self-disciplined and be sure that their relatives and office staff do the same. "Second, we must strictly investigate and prosecute all types of cases involving violation of laws and regulations, concentrating particularly on a batch of major cases. We should focus on cases in which government departments at all levels or leading cadres at and above the county level are involved in violation of laws and codes of conduct. All major cases, no matter which department or who is involved, must be thoroughly investigated, and corrupt officials must be brought to justice," he said.

"Third, we should continue to vigorously work to correct unhealthy tendencies in government departments and industries. We should focus on solving outstanding problems of great concern to the general public. Supervision needs to be strengthened to gurantee that laws and codes of conduct are strictly enforced. And efforts to prevent and control corruption at the source should be beefed up," he said.

The premier said that governments at all levels should continue to implement relevant regulations to curb expansion or construction of office buildings, not allowing any new luxury building projects to be launched. Departments under the State Council should play an exemplary role in this regard. According to the disciplinary department of the Communist Party of China and the central government, 132,447 Party and government officials were given disciplinary penalties last year, of which 4, 092 were at the county level, 327 at prefectural level and 17 at ministerial or provincial level.

Among these officials are Xu Yunhong, former Party secretary of the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, who misused official power for personal gains; Hu Changqing, former vice-governor of Jiangxi Province, who asking for and accepting bribes; and Jin Deqin, former vice-president of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, who peculated a large number of public funds and other officials involved in smuggling and frauds. "In the present changing circumstances," Zhu said, "we should continue to carry forward our fine tradition of building the country and handling all affairs through diligence and frugality." "We must resolutely put an end to the extravagance, waste and squandering seen in some areas, departments and institutions. Cases of misuse of public funds and institutional spending in violation of relevant regulations must be strictly investigated into and prosecuted.

Government officials travel, entertain and dine in a luxurious style at public expenses in the name of all sorts of invented activities such as "festival" celebrations, ribbon-cutting ceremonies and standards inspections. This wastes money and manpower and arouses the indignation of the people. Such practices must be resolutely stopped, he said.

On the question of the reform of government institutions, he said, departments under the State Council should consolidate the outcome of institutional reform. Local governments should intensify their institutional reform in compliance with the arrangements and requirements of the central authorities. "We should streamline our administration and establish a highly- efficient, well-coordinated and standardized administrative system and operating mechanism through reform, and carry out official duties in accordance with the law," he continued. The premier said, "We should continue to improve and exercise a civil service system and enhance the political integrity and professional competence of public servants. Governments at all levels must conscientiously subject themselves to the supervision of the people's congresses at the corresponding levels and their standing committees, take the initiative to strengthen contacts with the committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at all levels, and earnestly listen to the views of the democratic parties, federations of industry and commerce, prominent persons without party affiliation and mass organizations, he said. "We should make government affairs public, encourage people to exercise supervision over the work of the government and its functionaries in accordance with the law, and bring the supervisory role of public opinion into full play," he said.

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