China urged to remove government from businesses (Reuters)

BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) -- Legal proceedings against a senior official shows China's resolve in fighting corruption, but Beijing should end unnecessary government involvement in businesses, the China Daily said on Saturday.

China's top prosecutor said last week Beijing's disgraced Communist Party boss Chen Xitong would soon be charged with corruption and dereliction of duty, ending years of uncertainty over his fate.

''Taking legal proceedings against Chen illustrates China's determination to step up its efforts to punish corrupt government officials,'' the newspaper said in a commentary.

''China, meanwhile, should make efforts to cease unnecessary governmental involvement in business activities,'' it said.

Chen, 67, is the most senior official exposed in a corruption scandal since the Communists took power in 1949, and the handling of his case is seen as a litmus test of Beijing's determination to tackle abuse of power.

The newspaper, however, said efforts against corruption, which has flourished along with free market reforms of the past two decades, were far from enough.

''Exacerbating corruption among government officials and Communist Party members would severely lessen people's trust in the government,'' the China Daily said.

''Only if an independent market environment, supervised but not directly controlled by the government, is established, will corruption be effectively curtailed,'' it said.

Parliament last week passed a plan to slash the number of ministries to 29 from 40 and to axe half of all civil servants.

In a sign of anger at mounting crime and corruption, nearly half of the delegates to China's parliament this week failed to support the top prosecutor's annual work report.

Chen is suspected of having accepted 250,000 yuan ($30,000) in illegal gifts.


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