China's President calls for clean living in high-profile trip
BEIJING: President Jiang Zemin appealed for hard work and clean living from
Communist Party officials while on a high-profile visit to southeast China,
where corruption scandals have tarnished the party's image, state media
reported on Saturday.
Jiang said corrupt officials would be "punished according to the law to
caution and educate the multitudes of officials and people," the People's
Daily said in a front-page story about Jiang's trip earlier this week to
southern Guangdong province. The Communist Party would only win the support
of the Chinese people if works for their interests, Jiang said, renewing an
appeal to the party's 61 million members to makes sacrifices for their
country and return to "a style of hard struggle and clean living."
Chinese Communists have maintained a monopoly on political power by
suppressing dissent and emphasizing their leadership role in making China
more prosperous. Nevertheless, rampant corruption for years has made many
people lose faith in party leadership. In the biggest smuggling scandal of
the communist era, high-ranking party officials in the Army, police and
government are suspected of allowing U.S. $9.5 billion worth of cigarettes,
oil, cars and other goods to be smuggled through the southeastern city of
Xiamen, in Fujian province.
The government has sent hundreds of investigators to Xiamen but has not
publicly reported on the case. Chinese have heard of it from Hong Kong
reports, Chinese Web sites and rumors. Two Guangdong customs officials were
executed last year for their role in another large smuggling case. A senior
official from neighboring Guangxi, National People's Congress Vice Chairman
Cheng Kejie, is under investigation for corruption, according to Hong Kong
media reports that Chinese officials refused to confirm or deny.
Jiang made no public references to any of the major scandals. He insisted
moral education of Communist Party officials could prevent them from
violating the law, the reports in People's Daily and other papers said. But
he acknowledged that the party was so large that it was difficult to manage
and "there are many problems that need to be solved." (AP)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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