The Chinese government is fully committed to fighting corruption and is working vigorously to prevent it from happening at all Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized Sunday.

Hu made the remarks when addressing the opening ceremony of the First Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) which will continue until October 26.

"We treat the fight against corruption as a priority and a pressing task that has great influence on the overall development of the country, the fundamental interests of the Chinese people, equality, justice and social harmony and stability," said Hu.

China's strategy in building a clean government was to address both the symptoms and the root cause, combining punitive and preventative measures, focusing on prevention, Hu said.

"In this way we can take measures to prevent corruption including investigation, prosecution, trial and conviction and punish criminals severely for corruption," he added. 

At the same time China would continue to improve its overall anti-corruption system giving equal importance to education, mechanism building and supervision, Hu said.

"We are stepping up efforts to improve the rule of law and to create a culture of a clean and honest government while strengthening the supervision of power," he said.

Hu said China was endeavoring to stop corruption at its source through reform, elimination of the breeding ground for such crimes and development of an effective anti-corruption mechanism that people will support and participate in.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2006)