Five-year corruption mechanism coming this year

A new five-year government plan to establish a comprehensive anti-corruption mechanism will be unveiled in the first half of 2013, with some scholars suggesting that requiring officials to disclose their property holding is still impossible to be carried out nationwide.

The drafting of the five-year anti-corruption plan (2013-17), the second five-year plan of its kind, began 18 months ago, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CCDI).

The plan will be published in the first half of 2013 and follow the spirit of the Second Plenary Session of the 18th CCDI, which will be held later this month, the Guangzhou-based Nandu Daily reported.

The Second Plenary Session of the 18th CCDI aims to set goals for anti-graft work in 2013 and develop the construction of an honest administration, Cui Shaopeng, spokesperson of the CCDI, said at a press conference on January 9.

"I think the upcoming CCDI meeting and the new five-year anti-corruption plan will stress equally prevention and punishment for corruption," Yun Jie, director of the administration research department at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

"Many people expect the new plan will require officials to disclose their property holdings, but I don't think this will be included in the plan as it is difficult to be put into practice at local levels," Yun said.

Pilot projects requiring officials to declare their property ownership have been carried out in some cities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Zhejiang Province and Hunan Province. In 2012, Guangdong Province required officials in two counties to declare their property holdings. The Nansha New Area in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, will launch the property declaration requirement after the Spring Festival.