Official says not afraid to bare financial assets

Although he is not the first Chinese official to promise that he will disclose his financial status, Fan Songqing's declaration has triggered heated online discussion amid government pledges to combat corruption.

Fan, deputy secretary-general of the political consultative conference of the city of Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong province, said officials' assets should be declared and disclosed.

Fan's remarks have reignited public debate about how government officials disclose their assets. Rampant corruption has fueled calls for such disclosures, as well as other efforts to eliminate graft.

On Monday, a Guangzhou discipline official said the city's Nansha New district will soon require its officials to declare their assets and make them known to the public.

Fan said the existing asset declaration system is defective, as difficulties in implementing the system, as well as false declarations by officials, have allowed corrupt individuals to dodge investigation or punishment.

Cai Bin, an urban management official in Guangdong who previously claimed to own just two houses, was found to actually own 22 homes after the truth was disclosed online.

Cai, who was nicknamed "Uncle House" by netizens, was dismissed from his post in October last year.

"Officials will only declare their assets genuinely if the system acts as a deterrent," said the 58-year-old who had been in a discipline supervision post for nine years.

Fan said he earns a monthly salary of a little more than 10,000 yuan (about 1,600 U.S. dollars), plus a two-bedroom apartment. His wife, who retired as an enterprise employee, gets about 2,000 yuan a month.

Although the system was supposed to be backed by legislation as early as 1994, the legalization of the system has yet to begin.

Without the guarantee of related laws, the asset declaration and disclosure system has failed to deter officials whose assets outpace their financial means, Fan said.

"I hope the government will draft a law on asset declaration and disclosure and implement related trial programs. Otherwise, it will be too late," Fan said.

Fan said asset declarations must be accompanied by public disclosure. "Without social supervision, the system will ring hollow."

Punishments for officials who decline to declare their assets or make false declarations should be harsher and based on law, he said.

After making his proposal, Fan was accused by some of his peers of "breaking the hidden rules of the political arena."

Fan, however, said he made a proper proposal at the right time and place.

"I will continue to push for the disclosure of officials' assets," he said.

"I hope more officials will join me in pushing these kinds of reforms forward," he said.