Qian Qichen made the call in Beijing January 6 while meeting with deputies to a three-day national meeting of leading officials in charge of overseas Chinese affairs.

Qian reviewed China's great achievements in the reform and opening-up drive over the past two decades and said these achievements are inseparable with the support of overseas Chinese.

Overseas Chinese compatriots have made due contributions to the country's modernization drive, exchanges between both sides of the Taiwan Straits, and to the cause of rejuvenating the Chinese nation and the reunification of the motherland, said the vice premier.

The 21st century is a period for rejuvenating the Chinese nation. The fifth plenary session of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has mapped out a blueprint for economic and social development in the new century, said Qian.

Along with China's foreseeable accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO), China will enter a new stage with its opening-up drive, said Qian, noting that the field and scope of cooperation and exchange between overseas Chinese and the people at home will be further expanded.

Therefore, he said, the role of overseas Chinese will become even more important.

To realize the complete reunification of the motherland is one of China's three major tasks in the new century, and overseas Chinese are a force that cannot be neglected in promoting China's peaceful reunification, Qian said. "So officials doing overseas Chinese affairs will shoulder an even arduous mission as to how to organize overseas Chinese in order that they play a bigger role in rejuvenating the Chinese nation and promoting the reunification of the motherland in the new century."

Qian told overseas Chinese affairs officials to pay more attention to the subsistence and development of people of Chinese origin residing abroad, do a good job of serving the overseas Chinese, safeguard their legitimate rights, and also promote unity, cooperation and exchanges among overseas Chinese.

The vice premier also urged the overseas Chinese affairs officials to carefully study the speech about overseas Chinese made by President Jiang Zemin at the national conference on united front work, and unite all forces and arouse the enthusiasm of overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese, and their relatives to make new contributions to the motherland's modernization and rejuvenation, and to the complete reunification of the motherland.

1,517 Court Staff Found Violating Law, Discipline

China put on record and dealt with 1,517 court staff for violating laws and discipline in the first 11 months of last year, Zhu Mingshan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, said Saturday.

Of the total, 906 were given Party and administrative disciplinary punishments, and 29 were prosecuted for involvement in crimes, he said, noting that 82 of the violators were at and above the section-chief level.

Disciplinary and supervision departments inside the courts have focused on what he called "major and important" corruption cases committed by judges and court officials, relating to abuse of power, intentional mistakes in judgment, forging court papers, and taking bribes or appropriations, according to the senior judge.

In an effort to curb corruption from the top down, the Supreme Court issued codes last November regulating spouses and children of leading court officials from involvement in the legal profession or commercial activities. Leading court officials in the Supreme Court whose spouse or children are lawyers or engaged in commercial businesses have been registered and put on record.

Cars, computers and other expensive commodities for private use at the public's expense have been returned. Across the country, court officials handed back 197 cars last year that they "borrowed" from the courts or parties involved in litigation.

A challenge system had been installed by the end of last year to keep the court staff from handling cases relating to relatives. According to the new rule, 6,759 judges nationwide put forward a petition to avoid cases that related to their personal interests.

However, Zhu said that "corrupt practices still exist in courts, and they are very serious in some places," which severely tarnishes the reputation of the courts and judges, as well as the image of the Party and the state.

"We must fully recognize the difficulties ahead and take forceful measures," he said.

In the year of 2001, he said that the fight against corruption inside the courts will continue to focus on cases relating to leading officials and on judges who abuse power for personal interests.

"Court leaders will be held responsible if he fails to investigate corruption cases inside his court or give too lenient a punishment for fear of losing face," he said.

He also detailed plans on improving management rules and installing internal checks to prevent corruption and ensure fair justice.

(People's Daily 01/08/2001)