China successful in reducing corruption: Daily

Beijing, March 3 (IANS) China has taken a series of steps to reduce and prevent corruption and the campaign has proved "remarkably successful", a Chinese daily said Tuesday.

An article in the People's Daily said that China’s anti-graft campaign has attracted widespread attention from both the party and the public.

"The campaign has proven remarkably successful since President Xi Jinping led the fight against corruption after taking office in 2012. Anti-corruption is believed to be a key topic at the upcoming two sessions, which begins on March 3," it said.

The first session is the National People's Congress plenary session and the second is the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Xi said the campaign would target "what he called 'tigers' and 'flies', or high- and low-level officials".

The daily said that in 2014, a total of 68 “tigers” were investigated for corruption, including former security chief Zhou Yongkang, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission Xu Caihou and former director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee Ling Jihua. Among them, 30 have been charged and face trial.

A recent opinion poll showed that the people approved of the party’s anti-corruption campaign.

Aiming at stamping out extravagant spending and excessive formalities among party members, the CPC Central Committee announced its “eight rules” at the end of 2012.

In 2014, the CPC punished 71,748 officials for violating the rules, 23,646 of whom were handed administrative and Party disciplinary punishment, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s top anti-graft watchdog, the article said.

The article went on to say that China established an office of anti-corruption fugitive repatriation and asset recovery in order to combat the corrupt officials who have fled overseas with illicit money to escape prosecution.

"The government also strengthened bilateral and multilateral cooperation under the UN Convention against Corruption, and has jointly worked with the US, Canada and Australia in its anti-corruption efforts."

In 2014, China had successfully brought back more than 500 suspected corrupt officials from overseas and recovered more than 3 billion yuan ($483 million) in assets.

Inspection tours have been a key feature of China’s 2014 anti-corruption effort. "Three rounds of inspections have been conducted in 2014, covering 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The more flexible and effective 'special inspection' was first implemented in 2014. Inspections at the provincial level have also been effective," the article said.

Analysts are of the opinion that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been successful in reducing and preventing corruption.