A campaign aimed at redressing damages to the public interest
caused by officials' negligent behavior will be launched ahead of
the 17th Congress of Communist Party of China (CPC) this fall.
The country's senior leadership has also called for closer
monitoring of public officials, particularly in the medical and
educational sectors, which have been plagued by corruption in
recent years.
These sectors have also generated a lot of public
complaints.
"The key to redressing unhealthy tendencies lies in building
systems," Premier Wen Jiabao said in an address to a national
meeting in Guangzhou yesterday aimed at redressing bad
practices.
"The departments under the State Council should take the lead,"
he said.
The meeting came after President Hu Jintao urged officials to
rectify their bad practices and called for more ethics training at
the annual work meeting of the Central Commission for Discipline
Inspection (CCDI), the CPC's top corruption watchdog, last
December.
Particular scrutiny
Three kinds of bad practices will be under particular scrutiny,
the Oriental Outlook reported yesterday.
Abuse of power in exchange for personal gain, inequitable
clauses and hidden rules within certain industries will be the
target of a harsh crackdown, it reported.
"Eliminating bad practices and cracking down on corruption are
closely related to national stability and the public interest,"
said Wu Guanzheng, secretary of the CCDI, in a
letter addressed to yesterday's meeting.
Governments and CPC committees should do more to fight
commercial corruption in the purchase and distribution of
pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and services, Wu said.
Irregularities in the educational sector like overcharging for
tuition fees and the infringement of farmers' interests are also
serious problems, Wu said.
Wu also stressed the public's important role in curbing these
bad practices.
The authorities investigated 2,755 commercial bribery cases and
penalised 693 officials in the health sector last year. The cases
involved more than 100 million yuan (US$12.9 million).
Meanwhile, overcharging of school fees is rampant in some areas
even though the government officially granted free compulsory
education to all rural students earlier this year.
(China Daily April 10, 2007)