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BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao said corruption threatened the Communist Party's survival and warned that a protracted battle was needed to snuff it out as he opened the party's five-yearly Congress on Monday.
"A small number of party cadres are not honest and upright... and extravagance, waste, corruption and other undesirable behaviour are still serious problems with them," he said in a speech to open the week-long Congress.
"Resolutely punishing and effectively preventing corruption bears on the popular support for the party and on its very survival and is therefore a major political task the party must attend to at all times."
"Our party members must be fully aware that fighting corruption will be a protracted, complicated and arduous battle."
Government corruption has emerged as a major political and social thorn in the party's side as China's economic liberalisation, coupled with a rigid communist hierarchy, afford party officials ample opportunities for graft.
Hu, who is seeking to cement his authority during the Congress, has made the fight against corruption a key part of his platform. - AFP/ir
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