Former premier Zhu Rongji has implicitly criticised the central government for its failure to establish a corruption-free bureaucracy.
Attending a Peking Opera show held by the Shanghai municipal government on Wednesday to celebrate the coming Lunar New Year, the 83-year-old reminded the 1,500 people in the audience - including more than 1,200 officials with the rank of bureau head - that the city had a 'clean government' from 1987 to 1991 under his administration.
'Looking back to the era when I was [Shanghai's party head] under the leadership of president Jiang Zemin, I once said that 'only when we watch closely the 506 bureau officials and give them the chance to contribute their talents, can the Shanghai government get our clean-government job done and be an invincible government,' Zhu told the Shanghai officials.
It was his second criticism of the mainland's state of affairs in the past year, following a broadside at the education system in April.
Chen Yongmiao, a Beijing-based political analyst and rights activist, said Zhu was trying to flaunt his anti-corruption achievements as Shanghai party head and during his premiership from 1998 to 2003.
'Zhu is a wise former senior official who skilfully expressed his gripes about the anti-corruption failures of incumbent officials, especially President Hu [Jintao] and Premier Wen [Jiabao] ,' Chen said.