"The Party has always taken a clear-cut stance on combating graft and building a clean and honest government," retired official Liu Liying told China Daily.

Liu Liying, now 70, stepped down from the post of commission deputy secretary at last month's 16th Party Congress. She is known as a staunch fighter at the forefront of China's anti-corruption crusade.

The concerted efforts of the whole Party and people have helped check the growing tendency of corruption in some Party and government organs and this has been welcomed by the Party and the public, Liu said.

In recent years, a lot of effort has been put into exploring and improving the Party's work style and enhancing its discipline work to build a clean and honest government. A considerable number of corrupt officials have been ferreted out and disciplined or punished in the courts, Liu said.

Liu revealed that, between October 1997 and September 2002, more than 861,900 cases were filed by discipline inspection and supervision organs at different levels across the country, and 97 per cent of the cases have been wound up.

As a result, 137,711 people were expelled from the Party and 37,790 of them were also punished in the courts. Among them, 98 were leading officials at or above provincial and ministry level while 28,996 were senior officials at county level, Liu said.

These people include former Vice-Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee Cheng Kejie, former Vice-Governor of Jiangxi Province Hu Changqing, former Governor of Yunnan Province Li Jiating, former Deputy Governor of Hebei Province Cong Fukui, former Vice-Minister of Public Security Li Jizhou and former Shenyang Mayor Mu Suixin and Deputy Mayor Ma Xiangdong.

"The sentences meted out on these corrupt officials have sent a strong message that the Party is firmly determined to root out corruption, no matter who has committed it," Liu said.

China has also carried out institutional reform to prevent corruption from happening and get rid of it at its very root, said Liu.

The anti-corruption drive provides a necessary condition and serves as an important guarantee for the country's reform and social stability, Liu pointed out.

"If we had failed to curb corruption in recent years, the course of reform and opening-up would have faced severe setbacks," she said.

Nonetheless, we should remain sober-minded as the task of fighting corruption is still arduous, she warned.

That is why the 16th Party congress defined anti-corruption in its political report as "a major political task of the whole Party" and warned that failure to combat corruption would seriously harm the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people and could even deprive the Party of its ruling position and lead it to "self-destruction."

Liu said: "I understand this as a warning to corrupt officials - whoever dares defy the law will be solemnly and thoroughly investigated and prosecuted in spite of his or her position or rank."

The Party's resolve will further enhance people's confidence in the anti-corruption drive and boost the morale of the discipline inspectors, she added.

As a leading anti-corruption official, Liu demonstrated an iron will and admirable investigative prowess, which won her fame as a female Bao Gong (a legendary 11th-century imperial judge well-known for his uprightness and integrity). While winning respect and honour from the Party and the public, Liu has also, from time to time, had to face slander and even threats from some people who were being investigated for their wrongdoing.

On the other hand, although she tried hard to keep a low profile, her position and work often aroused interest in the media, including overseas.

"It is natural that overseas media organizations pay close attention to China's fight against graft, and some of the stories concerning me are relatively objective and understandable," Liu said.

"However, I have to point out that there have been some reports that seriously distorted the facts and wantonly attacked our country's anti-corruption campaign," she said.

She cited one example from the Hong Kong-based Ming Po, which carried an article on April 3 last year saying that Liu's son was severely punished in the courts for taking bribes in the case of Ma Xiangdong.

"This is a sheer fabrication," she said.

For a time, some other newspapers quoted the Ming Po story, which, needless to say, damaged the reputation of Liu and her family.

After her son filed a lawsuit against the newspaper in Hong Kong, the newspaper published an apology on September 10 last year, acknowledging that its previous report "was neither true nor based on facts" and it took back the story "without reservation." The newspaper also wrote letters of apology to Liu and her family.

Liu said: "It's good for the overseas media to report on China's anti-corruption campaign. We are making serious and honest efforts. But it's no good fabricating stories based on rumours and even worse to vilify the Party's determination to root out corruption."

(China Daily December 9, 2002)