Premier Zhu Pledges Greater Efforts to Fight Corruption

Premier Zhu Rongji said in Beijing Wednesday that China is striving to improve its legal system

and strengthen law enforcement in its fight against corruption at a press conference held by the

just-concluded 3rd Session of the Ninth National People's Congress.

In response to a question from a German reporter, Zhu said that China has made tremendous

achievements in its anti-corruption fight in recent years and punished more corrupt officials than

any other country in the world.

"Corruption has been a major problem facing all governments in the world since the first

government was created in human history, and the Chinese government is no exception," he said.

China's government and judiciary have been tough in meting out punishments in accordance

with law to officials involved in bribery, embezzlement and other criminal activities, but people

are still not satisfied with the result, he admitted.

Around 700 out of the over 2,700 NPC deputies voted against or abstained when the work

reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate were voted on at

the NPC session, he said.

"This shows that people are not satisfied with our anti-corruption work," the premier said.

He listed the crackdown on smuggling as one of the most noticeable achievements in the anti-

corruption drive, citing recent exposures of smuggling cases in Zhanjiang and Xiamen.

Because of the crackdown on smuggling, China's customs revenue last year increased by 100

percent over 1998, and the extra revenue was used last year to increase pay for 84 million low-

income people, Zhu said.

"I don't see a clear linkage between corruption and the one-party rule in China," he said, noting

that many governments are corrupt even though they operate in countries with a multi-party

system. "Most important of all, the cure to the problem is the establishment of a system of the rule

of law and law enforcement," he said.

Chinese media are also improving their coverage of corruption, he said, pledging that more

and more corrupt cases will be publicized.

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