China punishes 881,000 officials in 5 yrs

BEIJING, April 23 (UPI) -- Some 881,000 Chinese officials have been punished for misconduct over the past five years, the Communist Party of China says.

They were involved in 852,000 cases of corruption, commercial bribes and other discipline or law-breaking activities, the CPC anti-corruption body said.

Officials have handled several major cases involving high-ranking officials since the CPC's 16th National Congress in 2003, Xinhua reported Wednesday. They include former Shanghai Party chief Chen Liangyu and former food and drug official Zheng Xiaoyu.

Chen, who was involved in a social security fund scandal, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for bribery and abuse of power. Zheng was executed in 2007 for taking bribes and dereliction of duty.

Xinhua said China has been intensifying its efforts to combat corruption in recent years.

Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, urged the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in January to "firmly correct official wrongdoing" that harms public interests.