Top law enforcement officials admitted Monday that China's courts fall short of public expectations - even with a 99.9 percent conviction rate - and pledged to combat gangs, corruption and other threats to political stability.
Appearing before China's national legislature, the officials highlighted the thousands of death sentences and prosecutions for murder, rape and other crime. But they tacitly acknowledged that despite a 5-year-old crackdown, crime still threatens social order and communist rule.
The officials also admitted that hundreds of civil servants punished for graft were court employees.
"We are well aware that the work of the courts still falls far below public expectations," Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court, said in an annual report.
China's parliament, the National People's Congress, meets mainly to approve such reports by senior officials on government work. But in a reflection of public anger, up to a third of legislators in recent years have voted "no" or abstained from voting when asked to approve law enforcement reports.
Xiao said China's courts handled 729,958 criminal cases last year, an increase of almost 31 percent over 2000. The reports presented Monday said the conviction rate was 99.9 percent.
Of 340,571 people sentenced for serious crimes, 150,913 received penalties ranging from at least five years in prison to the death sentence, he said.
The government identifies official corruption as a problem undermining public faith in Communist Party rule. Hundreds of officials have been sentenced to death and thousands punished in a yearslong crackdown.
Prosecutors investigated 36,447 corruption cases involving 40,195 people and funds worth $496 million in 2001, chief prosecutor Han Zhubin said.
That compared with 45,113 corruption cases investigated in 2000. The Communist Party's top graft-fighter, Wei Jianxing, said last week the number of corruption cases peaked in 1993-1998 and is now declining.
Still, many graft cases are handled outside the courts. The official Xinhua News Agency recently said 175,364 party officials were investigated for corruption in 2001.
One of the most spectacular graft scandals, in the northeastern rust-belt city of Shenyang, resulted in convictions for 16 top city officials, including the mayor. Two were executed, including one for spending $4.8 million in public money during a gambling spree.
Last year, 20,120 people were convicted of embezzlement and taking bribes and 995 court officials were punished for corruption or other crimes, Xiao reported.
He said prosecutors and police focused on rooting out officials allied to criminal gangs or who offered protection to gangs, smuggling rings and producers of fake products.
Though ordinary Chinese complain of unsafe streets, highway banditry, fake products and scams, lawmakers say police are making headway.
"There are serious problems. It's systemic, it's human nature," said Li Changdao, former vice president of Shanghai's high court. "That can't be changed in one go."
In a renewed drive against organized crime, known in China as "black societies," Xiao said courts handled 350 such cases in 2001, a six-fold increase from 2000.
Citing an 82 percent rise last year in crimes involving guns and bombs, Han said prosecutors and police are intensifying their fight against terrorists, subversion and followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, branded a cult by the government.
Xiao and Han also promised to better handle cases involving foreign companies - a key job now that China has joined the World Trade Organization and promised to open its economy to outside competition.