Reporter's Notebook: on the trail of China's missing officials

When we found out that neither the Jiangsu Communist Party boss Luo Zhijun nor its governor Li Xueyong would be attending yesterday's open session, reporters at the Great Hall of the People started to sniff around, eager to dig up the reason.

Jiangsu is among the provinces that have been at the centre of the anti-graft crackdown over the past two years. In the provincial capital Nanjing, both the city's party chief and its mayor have been snared by investigators.

The well-off eastern province also contains the hometowns of former president Jiang Zemin and disgraced retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang .

Even vice-president Li Yuanchao, who was once the province's party chief and who had a stint with the Communist Youth League, has been quoted as saying he feels helpless over speculation by overseas websites following the news that another youth league veteran, former presidential aide Ling Jihua, had been placed under investigation.

For journalists, especially those from media outside the mainland like myself, open sessions of delegation meetings offer rare opportunities to question top officials. To these officials, it's a good time to dispel rumours and promote their provinces.

Corruption has been a hot topic at this year's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Officials such as Shanxi party chief Wang Rulin, and Jiangxi party chief Qiang Wei, whose provinces have been hit by corruption scandals, have been willing to answer questions on the topic. But neither Luo, also a youth league veteran, nor his deputy Li, were even present in the room.