Prevention important

A system for high-level officials to report to the Party on their individual matters has been implemented, he said. Also, various forms of discipline supervision, including self-criticism, inquiries through interviews and letters and disciplinary penalties can be used to tackle problems at an early stage, he said.

Zhang Mingkai, a professor at the Tsinghua University School of Law, said the aim of high-quality anti-corruption work is not just to uncover corruption, but, importantly, also to prevent corruption from taking place.

Improving the mechanism to prevent corruption should be combined with technological means. For example, online approval of some items can be implemented to improve transparency so as to prevent officials from making use of information opacity for personal gain, he said.

The communique outlined the priorities of this year's anti-corruption work-focusing on areas with huge policy support and intensive investment and resources and enhancing anti-corruption efforts in the financial sector, State-owned enterprises and the political and legal systems.

Corruption in infrastructure construction, project approvals and management of scientific research will also be resolutely investigated and punished, according to the communique.

"Anti-corruption work in the financial sector bears on national economic security, and in the political and legal sectors the work will be helpful to improve social equity and justice," Jiang said.

It demonstrated the discipline inspection and supervision authorities' firm determination to ensure high-quality development with high-quality supervision as the country starts many new tasks and projects during the 14th Five-Year Plan, Jiang said.