That Xi Jinping, the newly elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, connected the fight against corruption with the fate of the Party and the country indicates he and his colleagues know the severity of the task ahead.

Xi, speaking at the first study session of the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC on Saturday, said that the increasingly rampant corruption, if unchecked, would eventually result in the collapse of the Party and thereafter the country.

He said the corruption cases involving government officials in recent years had seriously tarnished the image of the Party. He stressed that Party committees at all levels must fight against corruption in a clear and determined manner, and the fight must be carried out in a more effective and institutionalized way.