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China hires 23,500 lawyers to aid governance
August 12, 2013, 6:39 am

A total of 4,698 county-level cadres or higher-level cadres were punished by the CPC’s discipline watchdogs in 2012 [Xinhua]

A total of 4,698 county-level cadres or higher-level cadres were punished by the CPC’s discipline watchdogs in 2012 [Xinhua]

China has hired over twenty thousand lawyers to advise the central and provincial governments even as the Asian economy steps up its anti-corruption crackdown.

23,500 lawyers have been recruited and these lawyers would be “serving the construction of a law-based government”, said a Chinese law official on Sunday.

Vice Minister of Justice Zhao Dacheng put the figure as one tenth of the country’s lawyers.

1,300 were employed by provincial-level governments, 8,100 were recruited by city-level and 14,000 by prefecture-level governmental organs, according to Zhao.

They will offer legal counsel, draft and amend government normative documents.

These new legal advisors would also counsel the governments on foreign firms and restructuring of state-owned companies.

China has initiated a huge crackdown on corruption in public office, with the new Chinese President Xi Jinping announcing curbing government excess a central part of his ideology immediately after assuming office.

“We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials…” President Xi said in January this year.

A total of 4,698 county-level cadres or higher-level cadres were punished by the CPC’s discipline watchdogs in 2012.

Former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Bo Xilai has officially been indicted in July on corruption charges.

In another high-profile corruption trial, China handed down a suspended death sentence to Liu Zhijun, former railways minister earlier in July this year.

In a separate crackdown, China’s Food and Drug administration has recently announced a six month probe will look into all irregularities in the food and drug sector.

Britain’s biggest drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline, is also in the spotlight in China as the company and its executives are being investigated for high-pricing and bribery.

China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission has also undertaken an anti-trust review by investigating high pricing in gold trading, pharmaceuticals and milk powder production.

Source: Agencies