The nation's food and drug watchdog will have to abide by new regulations to improve transparency in the approval process of medicines and curb corruption within the industry, the China Daily reported.

"Transparency is the enemy of corruption. That's why we have introduced the new regulations," the paper cited the deputy chief of the State Food and Drug Administration, Wu Zhen, as saying.

Wu's comments came after the former head of the administration Zheng Xiaoyu was executed Tuesday following his conviction for bribe-taking to approve hundreds of medicines, some of which proved dangerous.

Zheng's case has come to symbolise the rampant graft and dishonesty in the country's product-safety systems which have raised alarm both in China and overseas.

The new regulations call for a panel of experts to approve new drugs, more transparent drug approval procedures, greater inspections of pharmaceutical factories and bigger fines for companies that flout the law, the paper said.

"In a renewed effort to ensure drug safety and salvage its credibility, China's drug watchdog announced revised methods... as part of the national crusade on restoring public confidence in the entire sector," the paper said in a separate editorial.

Despite such hopes, other Chinese officials were not so upbeat in the prospects of solving the problems.

"China is in a time of serious food safety risks and our task of fixing this is extremely arduous. Despite some recent improvements, the food safety outlook is no cause for optimism," Sun Xianze, head of the administration's food safety coordination department, said last week.

CHINA FALLS SHORT ON ENERGY-SAVING GOALS

Another AP report adds: China is falling short of its goals in a campaign to boost energy efficiency in its fuel-guzzling economy the world's No. 2 oil consumer but is starting to make progress, the government said Thursday.

China launched a five-year effort in 2006 to cut energy use per unit of economic output by 20 percent amid mounting worries about pollution and dependence on imported oil, which communist leaders see as a strategic weakness.

But last year's reduction was only 1.33 percent, well below the 4 percent annual target, Xie Fuzhan, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a news conference.

"The pace of structural adjustment is just not fast enough," Xie said. "We still need to have the people united as one to deal with the reduction of energy consumption and pollution."

Chinese industries use 20 to 100 percent more energy per unit of output than their U.S., Japanese and other counterparts, according to the World Bank. China's government says the gap is even bigger, putting total energy use at 3.4 times the world average.

China's heavy energy use has led to criticism abroad as its demand for oil pushes up world prices and state-owned companies sign production deals with international pariahs such as Sudan. By some accounts, China has overtaken the United States to become the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases.