Ma Wen Exclusively Interviewed by Xinhua Net

Beijing, Jan 19 (Xinhua) (Yu Wei, Yuan Yun) Party members and cadres should establish and insist on the correct outlooks on career, work and political achievements, and win people s confidence through constructing Party s work styles and building an honest and clean government and the new achievements in anti-corruption campaign.

At the Third Plenary of the 17th Party Congress of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Secretary General of CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao s speech won warm applause from the netizens, who are inspired by the new hope of anti-corruption campaign in 2009.

The key point of winning people s confidence is to make prominent achievements in work style construction of leading cadres, making efforts to make the solid achievements that can stand the tests of the practice, people and history. Ma Wen, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Minister of Supervision and Director of National Bureau of Corruption Prevention (NBCP) recently had an exclusive interview with Xinhua Net, and answered the seven questions that attract the netizens concerns such as the security and effectiveness of the investment of 4 trillion yuan, supervision upon the No.

1 leaders power, anti-corruption on the internet and the waste caused by going abroad on public funds, using official car for private purpose and enjoying banquets on public expenses.

Cadres Performance the Key of Winning People s Confidence

Question: What measures will the discipline inspection department take in 2009 to strengthen anti-corruption campaign so as to realize the goal of winning people s confidence in a pragmatic manner?

The emphases of the discipline inspection work this year include strengthening the supervision and inspection on the implementation of the important decisions and deployments made by the CPC Central Committee and making efforts to resolve the prominent problems of leading cadres in Party spirit, Party s work style and Party discipline.

The key point of winning people s confidence is that leading cadres make prominent achievements in work style construction and make solid achievements that can stand the tests of the practice, people and history.

Cadres should cherish their political life. More importantly, they should cherish the trusts from the CPC and the people. Accountability system should be used to promote cadres to shoulder responsibilities.

Ma Wen: The year 2009 marks the 60 anniversary of the founding of the People s Republic of China. It is a key year to deepen the study and implementation of the Scientific Outlook on Development, actively cope with the influences of the severe economic situations at home and abroad and maintain a stable and fast economic development, as well as an important year to implement the Working Program and promote the construction of the system of punishing and preventing corruption.

As the task of fighting against corruption is very tough, we must work hard to win people s confidence through constructing Party s work styles and building an honest and clean government and making new achievements in anti-corruption campaign so as to provide solid guarantee for reform, development and stability.

The emphases of the discipline inspection work this year include strengthening the inspection and supervision on the implementation of the important decisions and deployments made by the CPC Central Committee and making efforts to resolve the prominent problems of leading cadres in Party spirit, Party s work style and Party discipline.

Personally, I think the achievements made in the above-mentioned two aspects can determine whether our anti-corruption work can win people s confidence. The key point is that the leading cadres make prominent achievements in work style construction and make the solid achievements that can stand the tests of the practice, people and history.

Currently, some problems still occur in the work style of leading cadres and they cut themselves off from the masses. For instance, some irresponsible cadres turn a blind eye to the affairs of the masses and attempt to shrink responsibilities when problems emerge; some are superficial in their work style.

They are fond of seeking honor through fraud and deception and produce achievement-seeking projects or image-setting projects by exhausting the people and draining the treasury; some go in for ostentation and extravagance by exhausting public assets. They do not concern about the weal and woe of the people.

Thus, the CPC Central Committee decided to energetically strengthen the construction of leading cadres work style this year. Discipline inspection and supervision departments should intensify their inspection and supervision on leading cadres work style so as to timely find out and rectify the problems with strong response from the masses.

Accountability system for leading cadres of the CPC and the government should be promoted actively. On the basis of practicing the accountability system last year, relevant regulations should be promulgated as soon as possible to seek corresponding responsibilities according to regulations. Cadres should cherish their political life.

More importantly, they should cherish the trusts from the CPC and the people. Accountability system is a measure to encourage cadres to should corresponding responsibilities, instead of the goal. By establishing the system, we can promote cadres to form the correct outlooks of career, work and political achievement so as to win people s confidence with their sound work style and solid achievements.

Meanwhile, China also adopted a series of measures to resolve the problems in people s life closely related to people s personal interests. We will strengthen inspection and supervision and resolutely rectify the prominent problems and malpractices affecting the interests of the masses. For instance, to support the upcoming medicine and health care reform, we will promote the mode of centralized purchasing medicines on the internet in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities nationwide to reduce the intermediate links, reduce the overly high medicine prices and further resolve the problem extremely expensive medical treatment for the masses.

In terms of education, we will put our focus on randomly collecting fees in various names. Meanwhile, we will strengthen inspection and supervision on the implementation of the policy of subsidizing farmers and the funds for subsidizing the impoverished groups in cities so as to prevent the problems such as fund appropriation, withholding and embezzlement.

Summarizing Good Experience in Local Corruption Prevention practices

Question: What work has been launched during the more than one year after the establishment of NBCP?

The work of corruption prevention is mainly to strengthen oversight on power. The most effective way of doing so is to make the power open and transparent as the sunlight is the best way to keep healthy.

We will summarize the good experience and practices of corruption prevention in local areas. We are paying close attention to practice of Chongwen District of Beijing finding out vulnerable points in clean governance, and the system of property declaration system in Altay of Xinjiang, etc.

Ma Wen: After being established on September 13, 2007, the NBCP has launched work in the following five aspects:

First, establishing the working mechanism of corruption prevention. For a long term, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, Ministry of Supervision and all circles in the society have done plenty of work in preventing corruption and NBCP was established just to further promote the work.

In 2008, we held two joint conferences of corruption prevention. Various participating units researched and discussed how to launch corruption prevention work in their respective areas according to their different duties, and conducted relevant planning, policy guidance and comprehensive coordination.

Second, energetically promoting government affairs transparent. The work of corruption prevention is mainly to strengthen supervision on power. The most effective way of doing so is to make the power open and transparent as the sunlight is the best way to keep healthy. We deepen the promotion of make the government affairs, factory affairs and village affairs transparent and publicize the working procedures and results of public institution units.

More than 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have currently established electronic supervision system for administration and the affairs, procedures and results of administrative examination and approval are released on the internet. All these measures have facilitated the masses, increased the efficiency, prevented the phenomenon of seeking personal gain by abusing the power and improved the effectiveness of administrative supervision.

Third, paying attention to the problems that have aroused fierce response from the masses with the focus on overseas tourism with public funds. Last year, NBCP made it an important task and took various measures in collaboration with related departments, and made certain achievements. The expenditures and the number of officials of overseas visit on public funds reduced by 15 percent last year. A total of 5,189 groups canceled their overseas visit plans, involving 18,416 people.

Fourth, summarizing the good experience and practices of corruption prevention in the local areas. Some regions and departments have launched active researches and explorations and have been bold in making innovation by issuing some new measures. For instance, we are paying close attention to the practices that Chongwen District of Beijing tries to find out vulnerable points in clean governance, take special prevention measures and avoid corruption in some key links of power operation, and the system of property declaration system in Altay of Xinjiang, etc.

Corruption prevention is the common wish of every one, as well as our joint responsibility. We will research and carefully summarize the results of all the positive exploration.

Fifth, progress has been made in international exchanges and cooperation regarding corruption prevention. Efforts were made to seek corrupt officials who fled to foreign countries and we have seized a number of corrupt officials through extradition and repatriation. We also participated in related activities of the working mechanism of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and actively stated our opinions.

Meanwhile, we also held international workshops of corruption prevention to research and exchange the practices and experience of corruption prevention in Asian and African countries and launched international exchanges and assistances in fighting against corruption.

Establishing Anti-Corruption Early Warning Mechanism in Key Areas of Corruption Prevention

Question: What are the focuses in corruption prevention in 2009?

Corruption prevention needs a sound social environment and efforts should be made to encourage enterprises and institutions, intermediary agencies and social organizations to shoulder the social responsibility of corruption prevention.

This year, the Central Government will invest heavily to expand the domestic demands. We will continue to strengthen supervision and inspection and take pragmatic measures to prevent covert operations in the process of bid invitation and submission in construction project.

Ma Wen: We will put our focus on the following three aspects in corruption prevention:

First, continuing to strengthen the comprehensive coordination and policy guidance to the work of corruption prevention.

Second, intensifying the social efforts in preventing corruption. Corruption prevention needs a sound social environment and efforts should be made to encourage enterprises and institutions, intermediary organs and social organizations to shoulder the social responsibility of corruption prevention. For instance, in rectifying the practice of business bribe, we should not only punish those who accept bribes, but also punish those who offer bribes. Meanwhile, we will be committed to construct an honest society so as to effectively crack down on the practice of business bribe.

Third, establishing an information system of corruption prevention and an information sharing mechanism. Through carefully analyzing the great and important cases that have been investigated, early warning mechanism should be established in some areas vulnerable to corruption such as project construction, real estate development, land management, mineral resource exploration, environmental protection, law enforcement and project examination and appraisal so as to strengthen supervision on the key links, prevent reoccurrence of the same problems and more effectively prevent corruption.

This year, the Central Government will invest heavily to expand the domestic demands and a large number of projects will be put into construction. Measures will be taken to strengthen supervision and inspection, severely crack down on various regulation and law-breaking activities and prevent the projects of high energy consumption, high pollution, low-level redundant construction and overcapacity from being constructed so as to ensure the lawfulness, security and effectiveness of the investment.

We will also take pragmatic measures to prevent covert operations in the process of bid invitation and submission in project construction and prevent corruption in large-scale purchase, including government procurement and enterprise purchase so as to ensure the implementation of the policies and measures of the Central Government in expanding domestic demands and maintaining growth.

Tour Inspection System-the Effective Measures to Strengthen Supervision on No.1 Leaders

Question: The report of the 17th Party Congress suggests to develop a permanent education mechanism to resist corruption and decadence, a system for combating corruption and upholding integrity and a mechanism for monitoring the exercise of power. In your opinion, how to effectively make the monitoring mechanism really function? And especially, how to effectively monitor the exercise of power of No.1 leaders?

Once leading cadres keep the idea of accepting supervision in their minds, they will be prudent while exercising power. Only under supervision from various circles can power be correctively and effectively exercised.

Practices show that tour inspection system is a comparatively effective measure. The inspection groups will independently shoulder their expenditures and have no interest relations with units being inspected.

Ma Wen: Supervision on No.1 leaders should be in various aspects. Tour inspection system includes supervisions from the CPC, the People s Congress, Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference, the masses and various circles of the society such as the media supervision. Once leading cadres keep the idea of accepting supervision in their minds, they will be prudent while exercising power. Only under supervision from various circles can power be correctively and effectively exercised.

Practices show that tour inspection system is a comparatively effective measure, reflecting the supervision from the higher authorities. Many problems of local leaders, especially those No.1 leaders such as Chen Liangyu (former Secretary of CPC Shanghai Committee who is imprisoned because of corruption) were discovered through tour inspection.

The inspection groups will independently shoulder their expenditures and have no interest relations with units being inspected. After reaching a place, an inspection group will widely solicit opinions so as to get more information. Given we fully utilize the achievements of tour inspection work, the system will play a very good role in combating corruption.

Three Measures to Prevent Corrupt Official From Fleeing Abroad

Question: You just mentioned that we will strengthen international cooperation to seize corrupt officials who fled abroad. Our netizens wonder why couldn t we find out discipline-breaking problems of corrupt officials before they fled abroad? Can we prevent, discover and punish corrupt officials at an earlier time?

For the problem of corrupt official fleeing abroad, it is very important to take preventive measures.

This year, we will strengthen the implementation of the regulation that Party members and cadres should report their related affairs and take every possible measures to prevent corrupt officials from fleeing abroad.

Ma Wen: Few corrupt officials have fled abroad, which has caused very odious influences and fierce social responses, and attracted wide attentions from the whole society.

For the problem of corrupt officials fleeing abroad, it is very important to take preventive measures. We will strengthen the work from three aspects: First, strengthening management on going abroad on official duty, including attending training classes abroad; second, strengthening the management of national passport of leading cadres; third, strengthening the analysis of the integrity of Party members and cadres. For those cadres with fierce response from the masses, we should strictly control their practice of going abroad.

This year, we will strengthen the implementation of the regulation that Party members and cadres should report their related affairs and take every possible measures to prevent corrupt officials from fleeing abroad.

Fund Management-the Most Important Measure to Restrain Corruption of Going Abroad on Public Funds, Using Official Cars for Private Purpose and Enjoying Banquets on Public Expenses

Question: The phenomena of going abroad on public funds, using official car for private purpose and enjoying banquets on public expenses is one of the hot topics discussed on the internet in 2008. What measures will be taken to further restrain corruption in this area?

I think the most important measure to restrain the phenomena of going abroad on public funds, using official car for private purpose and enjoying banquets on public expenses is to strengthen fund management.

According to the requirement of the CPC Central Committee of being frugal this year, we will strengthen standardization on the public expenditure, enhance our efforts in enforcement and seriously deal with the prominent problems of leading cadres wasteful practices.

Ma Wen: I think the most important measure to restrain the phenomena of going abroad on public funds, using official car for private purpose and enjoying banquets on public expenses is to strengthen fund management. This year, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and Ministry of Supervision will continue to strictly combat the evil trend of overseas travel on public funds together with other related departments.

Measures will be taken to strengthen the administration on overseas visit for official affairs, reduce the budget and the number and scale of the overseas visiting groups and strictly control the timeframe of staying abroad. The practice of going abroad for sightseeing under the guise of official inspection should be firmly prohibited.

Those who violate the regulation will be harshly dealt with.

In terms of restraining the phenomenon of using official cars for private purpose, the main measure is to provide and use cars strictly according to the preset schedules and standards and strictly control the funds for car purchase.

We have reiterated the problem of enjoying banquets on public expenses and are dealing with the problem, but the progress is not satisfying. Chinese people have the tradition of inviting the guests to dinner. Many cadres may think it is not a big problem to extravagantly eat and drink and they have been accustomed to such phenomenon as they believe the living standard of Chinese people have been greatly improved. In my opinion, the key point of resolving the problem is to control the budget of official banquets.

Last year, we have made certain achievements in restraining overseas travel on public funds, thanks to the supports from the cadres and the masses, which also gives us confidence in restraining the phenomenon of wasting public funds in other fields. According to the requirement of the CPC Central Committee of being frugal this year, we will strengthen standardization on the public expenditure, enhance our efforts in enforcement and seriously deal with the prominent problems of leading cadres wasteful practices, trying to effectively restrain the extravagance and waste abhorred by the masses.

Special Personnel Assigned by Discipline Inspection and Supervision Departments to Collect Related Information on the Internet Every Day

Question: Recently, anti-corruption campaign on the internet is affirmed by many people. Do you often browse netizens messages on the internet in you daily work? Are there any personnel specially assigned by discipline inspection and supervision departments to collect related information from the internet?

Xinhua Net is one of my favorite news websites and it is a bridge and link between the Party and the masses, serving as a very important channel.

I hope the netizens can make more efforts in concerning, supporting and supervising cadres of discipline inspection and supervision and give out more suggestions. Have a nice Spring Festival to all the netizens of Xinhua Net.

Ma Wen: We have an interactive page at the NBCP website, which has attracted attention from the netizens. Currently, the page has been browsed more than 4.6 million times and has received nearly 15,000 pieces of message from the netizens. These messages cover not only opinions and suggestions to our work, but also some clues. We have special personnel to collect and summarize all these information every day and timely deal with the clues provided by netizens after being verified.

For instance, based on the clues provided by netizens, we have investigated some cases of overseas travel on public expenses.

In my daily work, I often log on some media websites such as the website of NBCP and Xinhua Net. Many problems that have netizens attention are also the problems that we make efforts to resolve. Many netizens pointed out the deficiency in our work in the massages, which is actually their supports and concerns to us.

On this occasion, I would like to extend my gratitude to the vast netizens for their supports to the work of discipline inspection and supervision. NBCP website will soon be upgraded so as to broaden the information channels and facilitate our netizens through expanding the website capacity and increase columns.

After the interview, Minister Ma told Xinhua Net that Xinhua Net is one of her favorite news websites during her daily work. Through reading netizens messages, she can know more anti-corruption hot topics in people s eyes, which can help discipline inspection and supervision departments to more effectively and widely absorb opinion and correct the deficiency in daily work.

Xinhua Net is a bridge and link between the Party and the masses, serving as a very important channel, she said, adding that she hoped the netizens can show more concerns and supports to the construction of combating corruption and advocating integrity, make more efforts in concerning, supporting and supervising cadres of discipline inspection and supervision and give out more suggestions. She wished a nice Spring Festival to all the netizens of Xinhua Net.