Chinese president calls for stern corruption measures

China’s President Hu Jintao called today for sterner measures against official corruption while urging the Communist Party to maintain firm political control as he prepares to hand over power after a decade in office.

In a 90-minute speech opening a week-long party congress in Beijing to usher in new leaders for the coming decade, Mr Hu cited many of the challenges China faced – a rich-poor gap, environmentally ruinous growth and the imbalanced development between prosperous cities and a struggling countryside.