Observers say China's achievements in its anti-corruption campaign over the past 17 years should not be overlooked as delegates from 14 developing countries Monday concluded a visit to China to draw experiences on corruption prevention.

Delegates from Asia, Africa and Europe were invited to participate in a workshop on corruption prevention, and were given a four-day inspection tour for corruption prevention practice in South China's Guangdong Province.

The Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese State Councilor Ma Kai told delegates that China is willing to continue cooperation with developing countries to fight corruption.

According to chinanews.com, delegates from Algeria, Croatia and Malaysia said they had learned valuable lessons from China's anti-corruption campaign.

News of the workshop triggered hot debates on the Internet, with Web users highlighting China's problems in anti-corruption and expressing doubts over the meaningfulness of the workshop.

Lin Zhe, an anti-corruption expert at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times that China is facing a tough battle against corruption.

"Ten years ago when people thought about corruption they would think of ministers or governors," said Lin.

"Now the phenomenon has found its way into lower levels of government," Lin said on Tuesday.

"The government needs to realize that we need to win this war against corruption, and win it in time," added Lin.

Liao Ran, senior program coordinator with Transparency International (TI), a global anti-corruption organization based in Berlin, told the Global Times that China has improved significantly over the past 17 years.

"China is one of the very few Asian countries that has made such an improvement fighting corruption," said Liao, who believes that political commitment and financial input are the two key factors in the anti-corruption campaign.