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BEIJING - ABOUT 2,100 Chinese local government officials were punished for misconduct including election bribery between January 2007 and January 2008, state media reported on Wednesday.
Of those, 1,948 had been reprimanded and 163 had received punishment including suspension, demotion or removal from their posts, the China Daily paper said, citing senior anti-corruption official Zhang Jinan.
The officials were involved in 1,885 cases of malpractice, such as election bribery or buying posts, Mr Zhang said, during reshuffles of local government.
It comes as Premier Wen Jiabao once again pledged to put the fight against corruption at the top of his agenda at a special meeting of his new cabinet Tuesday, state Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese authorities regularly highlight government efforts to fight official corruption, a problem President Hu Jintao has warned is one of the biggest threats to the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party.
However corruption remains endemic in China, both in government ranks and throughout society, as the country ploughs through its development boom without a free press or an independent judiciary.
Earlier this month, China's top prosecutor said convictions of corrupt officials in China had jumped 30 per cent over the past five years.
Mr Wen yesterday said over-concentration of power and ineffective supervision were behind the spread of corruption, Xinhua said. -- AFP
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