BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Public administration experts
have attributed China's recent achievements in combating
corruption to the effective precautionary measures it has taken in
lawmaking, government administration and a wide range of social
and economic activities.
   China's civil servants have received five pay hikes since 1989,
which were designed to stimulate domestic demand, improve the
income level of government employees and discourage them from
taking bribes or pocketing public money, Wang Shaoguang, a
professor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told an
ongoing international conference on economic reforms and good
governance Friday.
   Some scholars even suggested a considerable amount be paid to "
clean" government employees upon retirement, in an effort to keep
them from corruption.
   In another development, the Chinese government has intensified
personnel reforms by increasing transparency in the recruitment
and promotion of government employees.
   The ongoing administrative reform, which aims to remove
unnecessary government intervention in corporate behavior by
simplifying the traditional application-and-approval procedures
for businesses, is also conducive to corruption prevention and
control, Wang said.
   China's central and local governments have simplified
administrative procedures by at least 30 percent over the past
year. In some provinces, such procedures have been cut by over 60
percent.
   Earlier this year, the Chinese capital Beijing decided to wipe
out another 30 percent of administrative procedures, following
last year's reduction of 40 percent.
   The people's procuratorates also made marked progress in
preventing career-related crimes, by helping set up 1,300 crime-
prevention organizations and carrying out crime prevention
activities in major construction projects in the communications,
energy and water conservancy sectors to avoid financial drains. 
   As host for the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has set up a
supervisory committee to clamp down on corruption, guarantee
quality of all Olympic projects and ensure a "clean Olympiad".
   "All preparatory work will be made public on the website for
public supervision," said Mayor Liu Qi.
   The fight against corruption has to be backed by a sound legal
system, said Vice-President Liu Jiachen of the Supreme People's
Court, as he briefed the audience on China's anti-corruption
strategy.
   China took up legal devices to address corruption in 1979, when
its top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), defined
power abuse, bribery and embezzlement as crimes in the country's
criminal law.
   Further amendments were made to the criminal law in the 1990s
to stress anti-corruption in China's market economy, and anti-
corruption provisions were also included in laws and regulations
governing corporate governance, accounting, auditing and public
servants.
   From 1992 to last year, 239,710 corruption cases have come
before Chinese courts and 173,974 people, including some high-
ranking officials, have been convicted and sentenced.
   In the post-WTO scenario, China needs to maintain its efforts
to build up a sound legal system and improve transparency in
government work so as to conform to WTO rules, said Liu Jiachen.
   "Because transparency is key to good governance, corruption
control and financial stability," said Daniel Kaufmann, a World
Bank expert.
   The conference, which closed here Friday, drew over 100
officials, business representatives and scholars from China and
international organizations including the United Nations
Development Program, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank,
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for
International Private Enterprises and some corruption control
organizations. Enditem

  --By Xinhua Writer Zhou Yan