668,000 people disciplined in five years in China

A total of 668,429 people were given Party or administrative punishment from November 2007 to June 2012, according to a report from the discipline watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC on Monday published the full text of its report submitted to the 18th CPC National Congress, which closed on Nov. 14. Summing up the CCDI's work in the past five years since October 2007, when the 17th CPC Central Committee was formed, the CCDI has made major progress in tackling corruption, improving prevention and addressing the problems that draw the most complaints from common people, under the principle of curbing corruption by both punitive and preventive means, the report said. Over the past five years, the CCDI opened investigations into 643,759 cases and settled 639,068 of them, and 24,584 people were handed over to prosecutors for breaking the law, according to the report. A number of senior officials were punished, including Bo Xilai, former Party chief of Chongqing Municipality and member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, and Liu Zhijun, former minister of railways, the report said, adding that these cases showed the Party's firm determination to fight corruption. The CPC also established an effective system to prevent corrupt officials from fleeing abroad and hunt down those on the run, according to the report. With joint efforts of various departments, a number of fugitive prime suspects in major graft cases were arrested, including Lai Changxing, the kingpin of a notorious smuggling ring who fled to Canada in 1999 and was repatriated to China in 2011. Efforts have been made to create a smooth channel for people to submit complaints and tip-offs about corrupt officials, the report said.