Opinion | Apathy, distrust, slows efforts to force asset disclosure in a Jiangsu district
A district in Jiangsu is held up as an example in the fight against graft, but its efforts are hampered by apathy and cynicism
With calls for mainland officials to disclose their assets practically ignored, one city in Jiangsu has hit the headlines, being hailed by the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily as evidence of the authorities' determination to curb corruption.
However, the efforts of a district in Xuzhou to force public officials to declare assets were only moderately successful, showing the obstacles mainland officials face in improving transparency.
Asset declaration is a basic anti-corruption strategy in the West that also appeals to the average mainlander. Still, it has met enormous resistance north of the border, especially from leading officials. It was first proposed at an annual session of the National People's Congress in the mid-1990s, but there has been little progress since.
Over the past three years, some small cities in Xinjiang , Zhejiang , Sichuan and Hunan have ordered officials to disclose their assets, but not publicly and only if they are being promoted.
However, the district of Jiawang in Xuzhou went a step further this year when, in a mainland first, it asked all 600 of its mid-level officials to divulge their assets to the public.
They were told to list their real estate holdings, income, investments, cars and the employment status of their spouses and children, with the details to be posted on the publicly accessible website of the anti-corruption watchdog in the district, Nanjing's Xinhua Daily reported.