Xinhua News Agency:
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has made strong efforts to fight corruption, which has attracted wide attention from both inside and outside the Party and from home and abroad. How would you comment on the effectiveness and current situation of anti-corruption efforts? What new measures will be taken?
Sun Yeli:
Corruption runs completely counter to the nature and purpose of the Party and causes deep resentment among our people.Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Party has dared to point a blade toward itself, scrape poison from the bones, and make wrist-breaking self-adjustments, fighting corruption with an unprecedented intensity. The results have been remarkable for all to see. Policy and strategy have been formed to take coordinated action to ensure officials do not dare, are not able, and have no desire to commit corruption. We have blazed a trail of anti-corruption underpinned by advantages of the system and the rule of law.
Deterrence on officials to make them dare not commit corruption is fully felt in combating corruption. The CPC Central Committee allows no safe haven, leaves no ground unturned, and shows no tolerance, and insists on imposing tight constraints, maintaining a tough stance and long-term deterrence, and punishing both those who take bribes and those who offer them. No case of corruption will escape investigation, and no corrupt official will go unpunished. A tough line on corruption has always been maintained. From the 18th CPC National Congress to June this year, disciplinary and supervisory organs across the country have filed, reviewed, and investigated 4.516 million cases and brought 4.439 million offenders to justice.
An institutional cage has been built up to make officials not able to commit corruption. We have formulated and revised the code of conduct for intraparty political life under new circumstances, the code of integrity and self-discipline, as well as regulations on internal scrutiny. We have twice amended regulations of disciplinary punishment and provisions on tours of disciplinary inspection. The supervision law and the law on administrative discipline for public servants have been promulgated and implemented, while the criminal law and criminal procedure law have been revised. All these have formed a relatively complete set of intraparty regulations, and an anti-corruption legal system.
Officials' vigilance has been significantly strengthened so they have no desire to commit acts of corruption. We have persevered in arming the whole Party with the latest development in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times. We have forged a whole chain of all-round education on Party spirit, strengthened and reinforced the foundation with Party members' ideals and convictions, and drawn on the excellent traditional culture to maintain and improve integrity and morality. We focused on ensuring honesty education, and promoted Party members and officials to enhance their Party spirit and build a strong line of defense against corruption and moral decline.
Combating corruption bears on winning people's support, which is of paramount political importance. This is a major political battle that the Party cannot and must not lose. An overwhelming victory over corruption has been accomplished and fully reinforced, but the situation remains complex and challenging. Going forward, we will follow the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, be soberly aware that fighting corruption is a never-ending journey, grasp the evolving features and trends of corruption in different stages, focus on key areas and links, and continue to take firm action to "take out tigers," "swat flies," and "hunt down foxes" (Translator's note: Tigers and flies respectively refer to high-ranking and petty officials guilty of corruption, while foxes refer to corrupt officials who have fled abroad.). We will win this critical and lasting battle against corruption. Thank you.