DATE=3/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA CORRUPTION (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259956
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO: China has executed a top official who was 
convicted of taking bribes, in a sign that the  
government intends to crack down on graft.  VOA 
correspondent Roger Wilkison reports from Beijing, the 
execution of Hu Changqing coincides with the annual 
session of China's national legislature, where rampant 
official corruption is one of the main behind-the-
scenes topics for discussion.


TEXT:   Hu Changqing was a former vice-governor of 
south-central Jiangxi province.  He was sentenced to 
death last month for taking 658-thousand dollars in 
bribes and being in possession of 195-thousand dollars 
worth of property whose origin he could not explain.

China's official Xinhua news agency says Hu Changqing 
was executed Wednesday, after the Supreme People's 
Court rejected his appeal a day earlier.

The Communist Party newspaper -- The People's Daily --
says Hu Changqing was made an example to warn other 
corrupt officials.  It says his execution shows that 
no one can escape the punishment of the law.

The official's execution comes three days after 
Premier Zhu Rongji promised legislators that the 
government will spare no effort to investigate and 
punish corrupt officials.  

Though China's news media have publicized Hu 
Changqing's conviction and execution, they have said 
virtually nothing about a much more serious corruption 
case involving up to 10 billion dollars of smuggled 
oil and other goods in southern Fujian province. As 
many as 200 people have been implicated in that case, 
including the wife of a colleague of President Jiang 
Zemin.

Western diplomats say the message emanating from 
Beijing is that local and provincial officials should 
beware of being caught with -- as one put it --  their 
hands in the cookie jar, but that senior party members 
in the capital need not fear the wrath of the graft-
fighters, if they are well protected.

Last year, former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong became the 
highest-ranking Communist Party member to be jailed 
for corruption.  He was sentenced to 16 years in 
prison for his role in depriving the city's coffers of 
more than two billion dollars.  But he was not 
executed as was Hu Changqing, who took bribes worth a 
lot less.  (SIGNED)


NEB/PN/FC 



08-Mar-2000 03:53 AM EDT (08-Mar-2000 0853 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.