Between 2000 and June this year, 174,000 Party and government officials up to the county level and employees of state-owned and state-holding enterprises took part in the ongoing audit of economic responsibilities.

Cases involving 3,253 officials were handed to disciplinary and judicial departments to deal with and 1,232 officials received disciplinary action from Party and government departments.

In the same period, 14,000 officials were selected and appointed, 1,730 were demoted and 983 were dismissed.

Li Jinhua, director of the State Auditing Administration, said at a national conference on the auditing of economic responsibility that it plays an active role in improving the system for selecting and appointing officials and in preventing and combating corruption.

The audit found breaches of discipline or regulations involving 391.2 billion yuan, with an additional 25.2 billion yuan lost or wasted and 339.8 billion yuan under improper management.

Officials' misconduct was behind 33.3 billion yuan of this: 20.4 billion yuan in breach of disciplines or regulations, 2.1 billion yuan lost or wasted and 10.8 billion yuan under improper management.

All levels of the Party and government say they attach great importance to the problems exposed by the audit. While investigating violations, they are intensifying education of officials and adopting systems to regulate their behavior.

Li said that this year's reform of the State Auditing Administration has helped to yield its best results in 20 years.

From January 1, the audit will be extended to include cadres at city and provincial levels.

(Xinhua News Agency, translated by Yuan Fang for China.org.cn, December 2, 2004)