China defends execution as new graft trial nears

BEIJING, Aug 2 (Reuters) Execution for corruption is proportionate and accords with ''China's national condition'', a senior official said today, as a trial nears for Shanghai's disgraced former party boss.

The ruling Communist Party has vowed to root out corrupt officials ahead of a key congress later this year to ensure that tainted members cannot rise any further. It has warned that the problem is so severe it may threaten the party's rule.

Last month the former head of the food and drug safety watchdog, Zheng Xiaoyu, was put to death shortly after being found guilty of corruption.

''As for the death penalty, different countries have different situations and different cultural backgrounds,'' Gan Yisheng, head of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, told a news conference.

''They have different ways of looking at the law, and laws are also different. This is normal,'' he added.

''We still execute people who have committed serious economic crimes on consideration of China's national condition and cultural background. I don't think we can be criticised for this, and anyway it is strictly controlled,'' Gan said.

China does not publish execution figures, but rights groups estimate that they number from about 5,000 to 12,000 annually.

Corruption has become rampant since market reforms opened the economy in the 1980s.

Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu was toppled last September in an official probe into the misuse of money in the city's social security fund.

Last week he was formally expelled from the party and handed over to judicial authorities.

Gan would not be drawn on when Chen would be tried, saying only that he was in detention and in good health.

''It's up to the legal authorities to decide when he will be bought to trial,'' he said. ''According to the law, it does not matter who you are, once you've been handed to the law, you'll be held in detention. Chen Liangyu is of course not immune.'' Chen was the first member of the party's Politburo -- an elite council -- to be purged for corruption since 1995. A dozen other officials and business people have since been implicated by a spreading inquiry.

Gan vowed to continue the fight against graft, but said it was not easy to root out and could not happen overnight.

''Some cases happen over a long period of time, and everyone knows that corruption cases mainly involved leaders abusing their power, much different from murder and robbery,'' he said.

Reuters CS GC1150