BEIJING (TIP): Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the drive to curb corruption in public life will become harsher and “all dirty hands will be caught”. The President called corruption a disease that has to be cured with “drastic medicine” and reminded Communist Party officials of an old proverb, which says that it is sometimes necessary to cut off the wrist that is bitten by a snake. Xi has made fighting pervasive corruption a central theme since assuming office and has warned, like others before him, that corruption threatens the party’s survival. “Xi Jinping stressed that while we affirm our achievements, we must also see that the fertile ground for corruption still exists,” state broadcaster CCTV said.

“The anti-corruption situation remains grim and complicated, the unhealthy influence of the corruption problem is malignant and needs to be solved quickly,” CCTV cited Xi as saying. He said the party must “continue to beat the tigers and flies together”—meaning both high-flying politicians and lowly bureaucrats— to tackle corruption. Xi’s comments, made in a speech to the Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, on Monday reflect that the president and the party general secretary are not entirely happy with the progress of the anti-graft drive. Hotbeds of corruption still exist, and it is a complex problem, he said.

Xi, who became China‘s president in March last year, urged efforts to ensure “relatively independent and authoritative supervisory power” of disciplinary agencies at all levels. China saw a rise of 13.3% in anticorruption cases in 2013 as compared to the previous year. Antigraft officials also investigated 31 high profile officials and handed over their cases to prosecutors.