A grave looking Ma, in a rare display of determination, showed up at the presidential palace's press room for the first time to read from an anti-corruption statement that his spokesman was originally to announce on his behalf.

"We cannot allow corruption to disgrace Taiwan's democratic achievements, which are the pride of the ethnic Chinese community," Ma said at the news conference.

The president "strongly" demanded that the authorities get to the bottom of any corruption cases regardless of rank or political affiliation of the suspects.

He ordered law enforcement authorities produce reports reviewing all major corruption cases and work out a plan to address the issue within three months.

Ma was gravely concerned over a report by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy assessing the investment risk in Asian countries.

Its Asian Risk Prospect report for 2009, released recently, ranks Taiwan eighth ahead of China in terms of corruption levels among 17 Asian countries it rated. Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia topped the ranking.

Ma noted that the portion of the report on Taiwan was based on corruption cases that took place during the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.

But he stressed that his administration still cannot avoid the responsibility to crack down on corruption.

He demanded that law enforcement and judiciary authorities speed up their investigations and trials of the cases based on the principle of impartiality.

"Getting rid of corruption is not a slogan, but an action," Ma said.

Ma noted that a revision adopted to the anti-corruption law last week to make it a crime for government officials to hold unexplained wealth was an important milestone in the country's attempt to clean up its corrupt politics.

Presidential spokesman Tony Wang said Ma can no longer tolerate corruption having seen so many corruption cases come to light recently.

Asked if Ma was singling out his predecessor Chen Shui-bian when setting a three-month deadline for a review of Taiwan's corruption, Wang said the president was not discussing individual cases.

The president was addressing the issue in terms of the institution, demanding government bodies step up their efforts fighting corruption.

Former President Chen and his family are being tried in connection with a series of corruption cases.