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In his first speech to the Chinese Communist Party’s elite Politburo, Xi Jinping, the new party chief, denounced the prevalence of corruption and said officials need to guard against its spread or it will “doom the party and the state.”

 

The blunt remarks by Mr. Xi were made Saturday at a meeting of the 25-person Politburo, which announced a turnover of 15 members last week during the change in leadership at the close of the 18th Party Congress, the state news media reported on Monday. Mr. Xi’s admonitions were consistent with warnings that Chinese leaders have delivered in recent years and echoed points he made in his inaugural speech last Thursday. Mr. Xi appears to want to take a populist tack in shaping his image and to push an anti-corruption drive as one of the first visible acts in his new post. Corruption is one of the issues of greatest concern to ordinary Chinese.