China's thrust on investigating more than 25,000 members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has increased when compared to last year's record.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Beijing's official news media, close to 85 percent of current cases involve government officials taking who either took bribes of more than US$8,000 or embezzled US$16,000.

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The report said major cases like these have increased to 14 percent compared to the same period last year.

If found guilty, those charged may face expulsion from the CPC, imprisonment or worse.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has initiated anti-graft and corruption campaigns to meet a growing suspicioin that taxpayers' money is being wasted by officials who use their goverment and political positions for personal advantage.

Xi said graft threatens the survival of the ruling Communist Party.

Last year, Zheng Daofang, deputy head of transport for Sichuan province, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth several hundred thousand dollars. Zheng's conviction was one of the biggest cases Beijing handled to curb corruption in the country.

In 2013, China was ranked number 80 out of 178 countries in the Transparency International's (TI) list of most corrupt countries around the world. TI's list ranked China to be more corrupt than Sri Lanka, but less corrupt than Burkina Faso and Panama.

Corruption includes graft, bribery, embezzlement, backdoor deals, nepotism, patronage, and statistical falsification. According to OECD Working Group, bribery, kickbacks, theft, and misspending of public funds are estimated to cost China at least three percent of its GDP of US$9 trillion.

Xi has pledged to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies" in the crackdown, which has netted several senior figures, including Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Also officials who have fled China with illegal funds are targeted 320 suspects were caught and brought back to China in the first six month of this year, Xinhua reports.

However, observers questions if the anti-corruption campaigns will have any permanent effect.

China has run these campaigns before and critics say that only absolute transparency will have lasting effect.

Meaning more openness from the officials about how they perform and what actions they take.

TagsCorruption in China