Minister Talk: Supervision Minister on Ministry's anti-corruption campaigns

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A system of supervision is essential to a country. And one of its key tasks is to keep the leadership free of corruption. In today's edition of our special series "Minister Talk", the Minister of China's Supervision Ministry, Ma Wen, talks about the Ministry's anti-corruption campaigns.

Supervision of the leadership is always the main responsibility of the Supervision Ministry. In recent years, the Ministry has investigated and prosecuted a number of corrupt officials including the former Director of the State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu.

Recently, however, the Ministry is facing even tougher challenges.

Ma Wen, Minister of China's Supervision Ministry, said, "How criminals commit a crime is more deceptive nowadays. This makes our job more difficult. For example, in the financial sector, criminals often make use of financial derivatives. It's deceptive and also professional, which requires us to upgrade our abilities. Besides, some corrupt officials flee to other countries. So, we also have to improve the mechanism to get them back. All those are problems we are facing today. "

In 2001, the State Council started a reform on the administrative examination and approval system. As a result, during the past eight years, the Supervision Ministry has canceled or adjusted nearly 2000 projects examined and approved by various departments of the State Council. Minister Ma Wen said the goal is quite clear.

Ma Wen said, "We weaken the administrative examination and approval power, only to make the market play a bigger role in the distribution of resources. Problems that can be solved by the market, do not need to seek solutions in official departments. Meanwhile, it reduces opportunities for corruption. It's a form of protection for officials. Strategically, it contributes to reducing and preventing the occurrence of corruption. "