Beijing to step up fight on corruption

The Chinese government says it will adopt a “zero tolerance” attitude to cope with long-standing corruption cases in the country.

“Regardless of who is involved, they must be investigated to the end, they must not be tolerated,” Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang as saying.

Li also urged the decentralization of power and more transparency on the part of the government to help the fight against corruption.

The Chinese premier stressed that “all government income and spending records must be included in the budget.”

“When the government controls too much, directly intervenes in micro-economic activities, it not only influences the ability of the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, it also increases transaction costs and makes it easy for corruption to breed,” Li said.

He added that the government recovered over 65 billion dollars during an investigation into corruption cases in 2013.

More than 40,000 officials received disciplinary violations and about 10,000 people were fired on corruption charges last year.

The measures follow a sweeping crackdown on corruption by President Xi Jinping, who has warned that the problem is a threat to the Communist Party’s survival.