Please prepare the vocabulary of the following articles for next week's translation workshop

BBC Wednesday, 29 January, 2003, 12:02 GMT

China's leaders may face scrutiny

 

China's top leaders have hinted they may make themselves open to public scrutiny, amid mounting concern that official corruption is eroding the ruling Communist Party's authority.

A meeting of the party's key Politburo decided that officials at all levels, especially Politburo members, should submit to public supervision, according to the official People's Daily.

No further details were given, though the report pointed out that the meeting was presided over by new party chief Hu Jintao.

The move, if confirmed, would be the clearest sign yet that the country's new generation of leaders, promoted last year, is prepared to tackle subjects that have been taboo since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Reformers in the party were then urging top leaders to make public their own and their families' wealth and stem mounting criticism of official corruption and nepotism.

But their voices were silenced in the 1990s by a harder-line leadership, some of whose members were suspected of shielding relatives from investigation.

Analysts are now watching to see if the new leadership is prepared to open debate on other, stalled reforms, including steps towards limited political reform.

Mr Hu's views on these subjects are not known because he took care during his ascent to power to keep his opinions private.

However, there have been reports that another new Politburo member, Zeng Qinghong, harbours hopes of introducing some political reform.

Mr Zeng, a protégé of Chinese President Jiang Zemin, has been appearing more prominently in China's media than his official party position should warrant.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2705101.stm

 

BBC Tuesday, 18 February, 2003, 14:39 GMT

Chinese official vows to end corruption

A senior Chinese Communist Party official has warned of the "extreme danger" posed to the Party by corruption.

Wu Guanzheng, chairman of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, urged committee members to seek new ways to fight the problem.

"All commission members must realise the difficulty, and raise their vigilance and awareness of the extreme danger of corruption," Mr Wu said on Tuesday, according to the official newspaper People's Daily.

There is mounting concern in China that official corruption is eroding the Communist Party's authority.

In late January, a meeting of the party's key Politburo reportedly decided that officials at all levels should submit to public supervision.

'Harsh punishment'

Tuesday's meeting was the commission's second since Mr Wu - also a member of the Politburo - was named as its head at a key Communist Party congress last November.

"We must adhere to the rule of honesty and self-discipline," Mr Wu told the assembled committee members.

He urged them to "harshly punish corrupt officials" and "deepen anti-corruption work within organisations and enterprises."

But he also warned them to "recognise that the struggle against graft is a long-term, difficult and arduous task," the official newspaper said.

Despite the clear pressure on party officials to rid the administration of corruption, correspondents say that many within the party do not want the problem to be tackled in public.

In his key speech to the November congress, President Jiang Zemin said that China would never adopt a Western-like system with separate organs capable of checking the main party.