Forced confessions through torture are not rare in China, state-run media said Tuesday, a rare admission of deep-seated flaws in the justice system after a teenager executed for murder 18 years ago was cleared.

The 18-year-old, named Hugjiltu and also known as Qoysiletu, was convicted and put to death in Inner Mongolia in 1996, but doubt was cast on the verdict when another man confessed to the crime in 2005. Even so, he was only finally exonerated on Monday.

"It has not been rare for higher authorities to exert pressure on local public security departments and judiciary to crack serious murder cases," the government-run China Daily said in an editorial.

"Nor has it been rare for the police to extort confessions through torture... and suspects have been sentenced without solid evidence except for extorted confessions."

Leaders of the ruling Communist party have promised to strengthen the rule of law "with Chinese characteristics", but experts caution the concept refers to greater central control over the courts, rather than judicial independence.

Hugjiltu confessed to having raped and choked a woman in the toilet of a textile factory after 48 hours of interrogation, the China Daily reported in November. He was executed weeks later.

His retrial and acquittal was national news on Monday and one of the most widely discussed topics on social media, with nearly 300 million postings on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service.

Experts and analysts say the government wants to use the case to send a message to police and courts across China that they must stick to the evidence and not rely on extracted confessions.

"For the building of real rule of law, redressing any misjudged cases, the ones involving wrongfully executed innocent people... is of milestone importance," the editorial said.

The newspaper also said China's supreme court had directed local officials in Shandong to retry the case of Nie Shubin, who was executed for murder in 1995, but later another man confessed to the crime.

China official admits millions in jade bribes: report
Beijing (AFP) Dec 16, 2014 - A former senior Chinese provincial official told a court he took around 13 million yuan ($2.1 million) in bribes consisting largely of precious stones, state-run media reported Tuesday.

Ni Fake, a former deputy governor of the eastern province of Anhui, had a "craving for jade", the state-run Shanghai Daily said.

His trial on Monday was the latest case in a corruption crackdown under President Xi Jinping, who has said the scourge threatens the ruling Communist party.

Ni told the court he had accepted 49 bribes, including cash, gemstones and artworks, the Shanghai Daily said.

Jade has been used in Chinese art for millennia, and has long been as valued as gold is in the West, but carrying loftier moral connotations including purity and longevity.

Corrupt officials have in recent years turned to taking bribes in the form of art and precious stones rather than money, according to previous reports in state-run media.

The Communist party's top anti-graft body said Ni was "obsessed with collecting jade" and had appointed himself honorary chairman of the provincial jewellery industry association, the Shanghai Daily said.

The official wore jade accessories every day and went to jade stores every weekend, the report quoted the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) as saying.

The 60-year-old was expelled from the party last year. Since more senior figures have fallen to the anti-corruption campaign, including Zhou Yongkang, a former member of China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee.

But the Communist party has resisted introducing reforms seen as key measures against graft, such as publishing officials' assets, relaxing controls on media and establishing an independent legal system.

Despite the crackdown, a recent report by Berlin-based Transparency International suggested that corruption has actually worsened in China, in part because "too many cases take place behind closed doors".