A new pilot program promises to gradually impose new asset disclosure requirements on most Chinese officials over the course of three to five years in order to battle corruption, Li Hui and Michael Martina report at Reuters:
Under the program, “leading cadres” who are newly appointed or promoted will have to disclose their assets, the occupations of spouses and children, and international travel records, the ruling party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in an statement on its website.
It did not give details on how the assets would be disclosed or the extent to which they would be made public.
[…] Proponents of asset disclosure were encouraged by pilot programs in the southern province of Guangdong early this year, but hopes were largely dashed when the system required declaration of assets to the party but did not make the information public. [Source]
More discouraging still are the arrests this year of several activists calling for asset disclosure.
Global Times’ Liu Dong reported the inclusion of additional measures to regulate “naked officials,” as well as skepticism about the new rules’ likely effectiveness.
The document also said the country will establish and perfect a system managing the emigration of State employees’ spouses and children. It also vowed to enact a management regulation regarding the position of State employees whose spouses and children have emigrated overseas.
[…] Officials who remained in China while their children and spouses are living abroad are called luoguan, or “naked officials” and seen by the public as particularly susceptible to corruption.
[…] Fang Ning, director of the Institute of Political Science at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, remains cautious.
“China lacks a platform which contains comprehensive information on all citizens’ economic activities such as financial income, tax, investment and properties. Therefore it will be impractical in detecting officials’ illegal gains,” Fang said. [Source]
No timetable has been announced.
