Beijing chief vows to continue graft search
WEI Jianxin, the new Party Secretary of Beijing City, assured city legislators yesterday that stability in the nation's capital was still the leadership's biggest concern.
Speaking before members of the Standing Committee of the Beijing's People's Congress yesterday, Mr Wei, who replaced Chen Xitong last April as the new party boss said that all departments and units must try their best to keep the capital stable.
'All departments and units must give that [stability] top priority,' Mr Wei stressed. 'There cannot be any negligence.' 'The whole country - and the whole world - is watching to see if Beijing is stable,' Mr Wei was quoted by the official Xinhua (New China News Agency) as saying.
'The party central committee has said that we must maintain stability in the whole country. In order to achieve that, Beijing has a crucial role to play.' He revealed that a special committee had been set up and headed by Mayor Li Qiyan to research new economic strategies for Beijing to help spur the economic development of the capital.
In his address, Mr Wei said all cadres in Beijing should learn from the fall of former vice-mayor Wang Baosen, who killed himself to escape bribery charges.
Mr Wei vowed that he would remain determined to continue the investigation even if it might implicate other senior officials.
'First, [we] will get to the bottom of the various crimes committed by people like Wang Baosen and others,' he said.
'The investigation will be handled strictly according to the laws regardless who or what was involved,' Mr Wei added.
According to the semi-official China News Service, Mr Wei said the authorities would closely scrutinise spending by officials and state enterprise managers and forbid cadres from squandering money on banquets and big feasts.
