China punishes 67,505 crooked officials 
 
    Updated: 2006-10-24 09:16  
Just days after Shanghai's pension fund scandal snowballed to net the top 
state statistician, China's president and key judicial officials took advantage 
of an international anti-graft conference to demonstrate their determination to 
fight corruption. 
 Altogether 67,505 government officials have been punished in China for 
corruption in less than four years since 2003, with more than 17,505 prosecuted 
and sanctioned in the first eight months of 2006 alone. 
 Revealing the latest procuratorate statistics, Wang Zhenchuan, deputy 
procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, on Monday said China's 
anti-graft fight had made progress. "With improvements to the graft prevention 
system, corruption is on the decline in many sectors." 
 But he did not provide details of any corruption case when addressing 
hundreds of representatives from international anti-corruption bodies at the 
five-day Beijing conference that will last till Thursday. 
 With Chinese authorities hosting the First Annual Conference and General 
Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA), 
Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the conference opening on Sunday and 
delivered a keynote speech. 
 "We treat the fight against corruption as a priority, a 
pressing task that has great influence on the overall development of the 
country, and which affects the fundamental interests of the Chinese people, 
equality, justice, social harmony and stability," Hu said. 
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