The pledge to protect citizen's interests was made by Vice-Minister of Supervision Li Yufu, who is also deputy director of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's leading group on combating commercial bribery.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing yesterday, Li said this year the campaign would focus on punishing officials who used their position to extract bribes, and the creation of "a lasting mechanism" to curb what he described as a "destabilizing factor in society".