Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said that his country is facing corruption despite government's all efforts to curb it and warned that the situation is "grave".Despite the government's anti-corruption efforts, some fields in China are still "prone to corruption" due to a lack of regulation or inefficient law enforcement and supervision, Wen said in his speech to the cabinet recently, text of which was released on Tuesday.
He said about 146,000 officials across China were punished for disciplinary violations in 2010. Among the officials, 5,373 had been referred for prosecution.
Wen called for increased efforts in battling corruption and said that the situation remains "grave" and the task is "extremely arduous".
In the speech, Wen also promised to better safeguard the legitimate interests of people and cut extravagant
spending by government officials.
Unlawful, forced land expropriations and house demolitions are strictly banned, he said, adding that the administrative system needs to be reformed to dilute the power of some government departments.
Last month in his address to annual meeting of National People's Congress, Wen identified corruption as a major issue for China to grapple beside ensuring equitable educational opportunities.
"At present corruption poses the biggest danger. To eliminate the breeding ground of the corruption we should pursue institutional reforms If we are to address the people's grievances and meet their wishes, we must create conditions to people to criticise and supervise the government," he said.
"Fairness and justice are defining features of socialism, reform the foundation of social stability. We must promote fairness in income and distribution and gradually
narrow the widening income gap," he said.
