China graft-busters shy on disclosure of assets

Hopes that China's new leadership will crack down on corruption by forcing officials to disclose their assets appear to be in limbo, with no officials at a recent meeting of graft-busters backing such a move.

At the latest plenary meeting of the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in late February, attended by more than 200 anti-graft officials from around the nation, no one voiced support for the introduction of a national system requiring party officials to disclose their assets, a person at the meeting said.

"Many of the speakers at the meeting believed such a plan was impossible under the current circumstances," the source said.

Public outrage at opaque government operations and the hidden wealth of party officials has been simmering for some time. Many Chinese believe government corruption threatens social stability and that an assets disclosure system is key to tackling graft.

However, the source said a CCDI official, who had done a series of interviews with Guangdong officials, had warned his colleagues that the disclosure of officials' assets could lead to social unrest.

"He said that every official that he had talked to had an impressive amount of assets, and to publicise any of them would lead to public anger," the source said, adding that CCDI deputy secretary Zhao Hongzhu heard the remarks but did not comment.