BEIJING -- China's anti-corruption still faces severe challenges, and the authorities have urged new achievements in clean governance to embrace the Communist Party's 90th founding anniversary next year, according to an official statement.

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country's central leadership, heard a report on this year's anti-corruption and promotion-of-clean-governance work, at a meeting Tuesday.

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President Hu Jintao, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting, where the leaders also considered next year's anti-graft arrangements.

Despite the remarkable achievements in promoting clean governance this year, anti-corruption still faces severe challenges and remains an arduous task, the Political Bureau said in the statement released afterward.

Party committees, governments and discipline authorities at all levels must address both the symptoms and the root causes of corruption next year, and employ both punishment and prevention with an emphasis on prevention, it said.

It called for enhanced efforts to educate and supervise Party cadres.

It also called for resolute measures to stop practices that harm public interests and crackdowns on violations of discipline and law.

Further, the Political Bureau stressed the deepening of special campaigns targeting corruption in the construction industry.