Wang Qishan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and also secretary of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), presides over a plenary meeting of the CCDI in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 22, 2013. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Anti-corruption fight no empty talk

The CPC's resolve and distinct attitude on handling serious rule-breaking among some of its cadres, including high-ranking officials, showed it is "absolutely no empty talk" that one will be severely punished for law or Party discipline violations no matter how high a person's official ranking is, Xi said.

He vowed "no exception" when it comes to Party disciplines and law.

A total of 4,698 county-level cadres or higher-level cadres were punished by the CPC's discipline watchdogs in 2012 and 961 cadres at the county-level or above have been transferred to judicial organs, CCDI figures show.

Among them are Liu Zhijun, former minister of railways, Huang Sheng, former vice governor of east China's Shandong Province, and Tian Xueren, former vice governor of northeast China's Jilin Province. Their cases have been transferred to judicial organs.

Another two high-ranking provincial-level officials are under investigation for alleged discipline violations.

Zhou Zhenhong, a former Standing Committee member of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and head of the United Front Work Department of the provincial Party committee, was removed from office for suspected "serious discipline violations" in January last year.

Li Chuncheng was removed from the position of deputy secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee for suspected "serious discipline violations" in December last year.

Nearly 73,000 people were punished for corruption or dereliction of duty in 2012.

Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, were present at the meeting.

Wang Qishan, secretary of the CCDI and also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over Tuesday's meeting and delivered a work report on behalf of CCDI standing committee.

Wang urged Party members to strictly abide by political discipline, maintain the Party's unity, make efforts to improve their working style, and severely punish corruption in accordance with relevant rules and laws.

The CCDI's plenary session opened on Monday.