Chinese premier urges crackdown on corruption

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji told the opening of the National People's Congress on Sunday that the government's anti-corruption drive is inadequate and much more needs to be done

Deputy governor to be executed

March 5, 2000
Web posted at: 12:36 p.m. HKT (0436 GMT)

In this story: 'A life or death struggle' Zhu echoes Jiang on Taiwan Deficit spending OK to be sought RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports.

BEIJING -- At the opening of the National People's Congress on Sunday in the Great Hall of the People, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji declared war on corruption and repeated Beijing's warnings to Taiwan not to delay talks on reunification.

On the issue of corruption, Zhu said, "We still fall far short of what the central authorities require of us and what people expect of us."

Zhu told the parliament that China "must take more effective measures and make unremitting efforts to fight corruption and build a clean and honest government."

VIDEO Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon reports that Chinese leaders are cracking down on political corruption. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Inside China

He also attacked wasteful government spending and lax management. "Bureaucracy, formalism, falsification and exaggeration are rampant," Zhu said.

Reflecting the crackdown on corruption, three delegates currently under investigation on corruption charges are absent from the session. Also missing is Vice-Chairman Cheng Kejie from Guangxi province, whom sources say is alleged to have accepted more than U.S. $48 million in bribes.

Zeng Jianhui, deputy secretary-general of the Congress, said Cheng "is doing self-criticism at the moment and is under investigation because he is involved in a case of breaking laws and regulations."

Cheng, 67, was the boss of former Guangxi Vice Chairman Xu Bingsong, who was sentenced to life in prison in August for taking bribes and influence peddling.

Before the 10-day parliamentary session ends, Hu Changqing, a deputy governor of Jiangxi province, is due to be executed for graft. He was sentenced last month to death for taking bribes worth U.S. $658,000.

Amnesty International, the London-based human rights lobbying group, said Friday that Hu's execution was imminent.

Meanwhile, investigations continue in the coastal city of Xiamen, where sources say at least 30 officials have already been arrested for their part in a suspected U.S. $10 billion smuggling operation.

Tiananmen Square was cleaned up ahead of the opening of the National People's Congress

'A life or death struggle'

Sources say that Chinese President Jiang Zemin recently warned in an internal speech that if corruption isn't brought under control it could destroy the Communist Party.

Other officials echoed the concern.

"The fight against corruption is a life or death political struggle for the party and the nation," Wei Jianxing, a member of the Politburo, said in a January speech that was published in full for the first time Friday.

Wei listed five of 17 high-level corruption cases that investigators broke last year as proof of "our staunch determination to punish corruption."

Zhu echoes Jiang on Taiwan

Turning to the issue of Taiwan, Zhu said China would not "sit idly by and watch any serious separatist activity aimed at undermining China's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

His words echoed the attack on Taiwan made by Jiang on Saturday, when he threatened "drastic measures" if Taiwan delayed talks on reunification.

Jiang reviled Taiwanese backing independence as "devils" and said their supporters abroad were doomed to disappointment.

Taiwan is preparing to elect a president on March 18. None of the three leading candidates for the post have indicated their willingness to deviate from the position of outgoing president Lee Teng-hui.

Lee has insisted that Taiwan would negotiate with China only as a sovereign equal.

Deficit spending OK to be sought

The party-dominated National People's Congress has limited authority and largely approves decisions made by the Communist inner circle. But among the nearly 3,000 delegates are powerful provincial politicians and military commanders whose support Chinese leaders need.

With no major personnel shake-ups and only one procedural law on the agenda, delegates are expected to take up routine work such as reviewing and approving a budget.

Cabinet officials have said the government will push for a third year of deficit spending to keep the economy growing at a 7 percent rate. Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily reported that Zhu would tell delegates the deficit will rise 10 percent to $24 billion.

Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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