Officials must disclose assets before promotion

Officials being considered for promotion are required to publicize their private assets in an effort to boost clean governance, according to a guideline issued by the government of Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

The guideline rules that before getting promoted, officials must disclose private information including their income, investments, vehicle ownership, houses, marriage status, and the jobs of their spouses and children.

Under the guideline, the officials' assets information will be publicized to an unidentified group of people, and the information will be available to more people gradually.

The city government did not set a timeline for the reform, and it is unclear when the public may have access to such information on officials' private assets.

Under current rules, government officials are required to report their private assets information to the personnel authorities of the Communist Party of China; however, a large number of scandals have shown that many officials managed to hide assets when reporting to the authorities.

Zhou Shuzhen, a professor of anti-corruption research at Renmin University of China, told Beijing News that only by publicizing the officials' assets, will supervision of them become more effective.