The Chinese government has taken penal action against some 5,000 senior officials for corruption and breaching the law.

In addition, a warning mechanism against corrupt officials fleeing overseas is also being debated. The move is aimed at helping maintain social order and protecting the rights and interests of the public. CRI Reporter Chen Xi has the details.

A disciplinary official said that nearly 5,000 higher-level Chinese government officials were punished for corruption last year.

They were reportedly involved in corruption, bribery, acting against public interest and in other breaches of the law.

Gan Yisheng, deputy head of the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, says the government vows to step up anti-graft efforts and win the trust of the people with real results.

"We should be clear that corrupt party members just make up a tiny part of the whole party. But we will continue to do all out to fight against corruption and do whatever we can to crack down on the evil phenomena."

The official says cases implicating officials above the county head level and those concerning violations of political discipline, commercial bribery, dereliction of duty and serious infringement of public interest would be severely dealt with.
 
To boot the fight against corruption, Yao Zengke, vice minister of supervision, says that the government would step up the supervision of officials' passports and monitor their departures from the country.
 
This year, some corrupt officials from Shanghai and Wenzhou of Zhejiang Province tried to flee the country, but were caught and punished as per law. The supervision vice minister says the government is determined to introduce a screening process and warning mechanisms to prevent such incidents.

"We will continue to flag up errant governmental officials, particularly in the aspects of passports approval and management. We will actively research, share information and warn of corrupt officials trying to flee China."

China's actions have generated positive results, with discipline inspection and supervision departments at grassroots levels settling 144,000 cases that led to penalties for 151,000 lower-ranking officials in the past year.
 
Losses of 6 billion Yuan or 900 million US dollars were recovered through the anti-corruption efforts.

In addition, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held a meeting Friday to study the anti-corruption campaign and to make plans for combating corruption next year.
 
Chinese President Hu Jintao said the Party vows to make "substantial efforts to strengthen supervision over leading officials, main leaders in particular" in 2009.
 
Chen XI, CRI News