China's Supreme People's Procuratorate has announced that 67,505 corrupt government officials have been punished since 2003.

China has set up anti-graft bureaus in procuratorates at all government levels, and employed 36,000 people in its anti-corruption efforts. According to local media, 17,505 corrupt officials were prosecuted and punished in the first eight months of 2006.

"These punishment figures show that the country's prosecutors are determined to root out corruption," said Wang Zhenchuan, deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has signed 83 anti-graft memorandums with 75 law enforcement departments around the world.