China tackles corruption

BEIJING—The Chinese government will decentralize authority, bemore transparent and adopt a “zero tolerance” attitude to corruption this year as it deepens its fight against graft, reported state media, citing Premier Li Keqiang.

President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning that the problem is a threat to the Communist Party’s very survival.

The latest measures were laid out in a speech by Li on Feb. 11, in a meeting on tackling corruption, but only published by state news agency Xinhua late on Sunday.

Li criticized the overconcentration of power by the central government and urged the institution of an open government “as the most effective way to accept supervision.”

In 2013, the government recouped 400 billion yuan ($65.67 billion) during its investigations into corruption, Li said.

More than 40,000 officials received disciplinary violations and 10,000 people have been fired, he said.

Li said the government would have a “zero tolerance” approach to “corrupt elements” within the government.

Li’s speech comes as the investigation into China’s powerful ex-domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has been gaining traction, with a number of close allies coming under scrutiny. Zhou was a member of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee—the apex of power —and held the immensely powerful post of security tsar until he retired in 2012.