China, a country striving for harmonious development and focused on taking its rightful place as one of the world's most powerful countries, is fighting a battle within.

It is fighting corruption, a seething cancer that has slowly eaten away at the reputation of what is otherwise a good country with good people.

The battle against corruption is not a simple one. The enemy isn't always easy to track down, and China's experience has shown that the enemy has long lurked in the shadows of its own hallowed halls of officialdom.

Stories of officials being caught red-handed have often appeared on the pages of China Daily, a fairly clear demonstration the country intends to show the world it is doing all it can to clean up its house.

And then there is the second battle: The public relations campaign to challenge foreign perceptions that not enough is being done to weed out corrupt elements.

China makes no secret about how it deals with corruption.

The threat of very lengthy jail terms - and sometimes execution - for those guilty of graft sends a clear signal that anyone tempted to skim from the top should think twice.

Earlier this year Zheng Xiaoyu, the former director of the State Food and Drug Administration, China's drug watchdog, was executed.

Zheng was found guilty of taking 6.49 million yuan ($850,000) in bribes and dereliction of duty.

Six different substandard medicines were approved by the administration while he was at the helm, products that later resulted in several unintentional fatalities.

He was the latest senior official of his rank to be sentenced to death in recent years.

Punishment aside, the country has also taken some concrete administrative steps to fight corruption.

It established a special task force, the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, which the NGO Transparency International said was an important step toward clean governance.

Something positive may also come out of the State Council's announcement this week that it intends to scrap or amend some 186 administrative procedures.

This is part of an ongoing push for comprehensive reform that has been taking place since October 2001, aimed at slashing red tape, which academics argue has become a means for some officials to cheat the system.

Last month the Beijing News quoted Li Yufu, deputy-director of the Anti-Bribery Group of the Central Committee of the CPC, as saying the majority of bribery cases involving government officials stemmed from them having too much administrative examination and approval power.

Reducing the opportunity for corruption may help, but the temptation will remain as long as there is greed, a natural human instinct.

Also, it should be mentioned that as long as civil servants' salaries remain comparatively low there will remain a compulsion for such graft.

Therein lies a pressing challenge for China's leaders as they gather for the 17th Party congress this week - how for the future can they keep cadres faithful to Party ideals and focused on working for the greater good, without being tempted to dip their hands into the national cookie jar?

The author is a senior writer for China Daily

(China Daily 10/18/2007 page7)