China will push forward its government accountability drive nationwide this year, focusing on holding chief official responsible for corruption scandals.

According to a government reprint of the speech made by Premier Wen Jiabao at last Friday's State Council anti-graft conference, the premier vowed to improve supervision and accountability systems to effectively curb corruption.

"The focus of improving accountability this year is to hold the chief officials at various levels responsible," Wen said, adding that they should be responsible for the corruption occurring among their subordinates.

Wen also asked more supervision from the congress deputies, media and the general public. "Many corruption cases had already been known in the society before we busted the officials. It is not that we don't know, but it is that we don't pay enough attention to," he said.

He said more than 37,775 government officials were disciplined in 2006. Among them, 4,058 were sacked and 3,236 were under prosecutors' investigation.

"A handful of graft cases involving high ranking officials have had a very negative impact on society," Wen said. "Waste and extravagance are rampant among officials and some issues concerning common people's immediate interests remained unsolved."

Wen called for focusing on five tasks this year, centering around regulating the use of executive power:

-- Cut government red tape, including the process of approving projects and issuing various certificates.

-- Continue the fight against commercial bribery;

-- Curb the widespread trend of building and renovating government offices against regulations;

-- Promote a thrifty lifestyle

-- And solve problems of particular concern to the public, including issues concerning housing, medical care, and food safety.

Source: Xinhua