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Hu vows to get tougher on graft

Ting Shi

President plans 'more systematic approach'

President Hu Jintao has vowed to reinvigorate the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption campaign with 'innovative thinking' and 'a more systematic approach', state media reports.

Mr Hu's keynote speech at a plenary meeting of the party's top disciplinary body - the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) - indicated battling corruption would continue to be a big theme in the country this year, analysts said.

The party secretary said the campaign would be given priority and urgency, saying unless corruption was brought under control, it would sap the party's authority and undermine its control.

The Communist Party was 'very aware of the importance of battling corruption and cultivating a clean government if long-term governance is to be ensured', the official China Central Television (CCTV) quoted Mr Hu as saying.

The government faces 'an arduous fight against corruption' and a fresh anti-graft campaign with emphasis on structural reform is needed. 'We need a reformist spirit to push forward institutional changes and an innovative mentality to crack down on the sources of corruption,' he said.

Mr Hu called on government officials and Communist Party cadres to establish a comprehensive system to prevent and punish corrupt officials, and to blend anti-graft efforts into the country's economic, political, and cultural developments.

Despite his heavy-handed campaign against errant or disloyal party officials - which had been going on since he took over as the party chief in 2002 - the list of corrupt officials was getting longer, indicating the country's graft problems are systemic.

Last year, Mr Hu attempted to tweak the system by presiding over a reworking of the CCDI's structure. Party and government discipline had for years operated in a relatively decentralised fashion, with each province responsible for managing its own internal disciplinary affairs.

But last year the top anti-graft watchdog was restructured to increase its direct involvement in its provincial, municipal and county-level offices, sending teams of up to 100 or more officials from Beijing to conduct investigations when necessary. This seems to have had a dramatic effect in lowering the ability of corrupt local officials to protect each other.

Also in 2007, a national corruption prevention bureau was set up, with its main role to monitor the financial activities of public officials. Critics say it is a largely toothless agency because it has not been given legal power to discipline corrupt officials.

Mr Hu did not spell out in his speech any fresh measures he intended to employ this year. But he promised to strengthen the checks and balances within the party, which - with more than 73 million members - is the largest political organisation in the world.

'We should check the party power with the party mechanism,' he was quoted as saying.

But there is a huge question mark on how the one-party state can find ways of reining in officials who do not have to answer directly to the public.

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