Premier Wen Jiabao said that serious penalties would be meted out, especially in corruption cases involving government officials, in a speech published on Thursday by the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.

'Collusion between officials and business, trade between power and money, power and sex, and cases seriously infringing upon public interest should receive heavy punishment,' he was quoted as saying.

His remarks were originally delivered on March 25 during a State Council conference on clean governance, the newspaper said.

In recent years, China has focused efforts on fighting corruption, which threatens to undermine the Communist Party's legitimacy and support among its citizens.

Corruption is a major problem for the country. Nearly 2,000 local government officials were either disciplined or charged with crimes last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported in late December, citing the Communist Party's organization department.

Mr Wen said that China has intensified measures aimed at 'correction of unhealthy social practices', promotion of clean governance and targeting bribery cases involving government officials and state-owned companies, public institutions and financial institutions.

Transparency in government should be further improved to safeguard the public's right to know, he said. 'Special government campaigns' would be launched this year to investigate overseas junkets for civil servants funded by public money and the construction of luxurious buildings.

Mr Wen said attempts should be made to involve public participation in policy-making decisions.

This week, the Communist Party Central Committee passed a five-year anti-corruption plan, Xinhua said.

The plan would focus on prevention as well as punitive measures, which combine punishment with education, supervision of officials and improving China's judicial system, it said.

Earlier this month, former Shanghai Communist Party Chief Chen Liangyu was sentenced to 18 years in jail for bribery and abuse of power.

'Whoever it is, no matter how high their positions are, anyone who violates party rules or national law will be severely punished,' the Central Committee said at the time.

Last December, a Web site started by China's newly created anti-corruption bureau crashed after barely a day because too many visitors tried to log on to register complaints. -- AP