In the runup to the National People's Congress that opens Sunday, Chinese authorities have intensified their crackdown on corruption and smuggling. Chinese leaders, who see 2000 as a milestone in their anticorruption drive, are gripped by a sense of crisis: They will lose the trust and support of the people unless more effective action is taken to stamp out graft.

The Chinese Communist Party has been fighting high-level corruption since the 15th party congress in 1997. The next year, Premier Zhu Rongji took strong action to prohibit military and police officers from running businesses. But the climate of bribery persists, as evidenced by frequent arrests of party and government officials as well as businessmen.

A key member of the NPC has been questioned about his role in a massive bribery scandal involving an estimated 400 million yuan (about 5 billion yen). The official, Mr. Cheng Kejie, a deputy standing committee chairman, is charged with receiving huge kickbacks from a smuggling syndicate and giving public-works contracts to family-owned enterprises. The scandal also involves many local officials, as well as Mr. Cheng's wife, children and secretaries. If convicted, he will be the highest-ranking party official to be sentenced for the crime of corruption since the founding of the Chinese People's Republic.