China steps up scrutiny into officials' personal details amid anti-graft drive

China has stepped up scrutiny into officials' personal assets and family affairs, increasing spot checks from 3 per cent of cadres to 10 per cent, and making them mandatory for all officials in line for promotion.

The new measure, which comes amid President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corrupt cadres, would affect 1.5 million officials of at least deputy division level, state media reported on Monday.

Despite calls for public disclosure of senior officials' personal wealth to curb corruption, the authorities have so far only focused on tightening enforcement of internal declarations of their personal details.

Party cadres have to report their personal details in 14 areas, including marital status, status of spouse and children, income, properties and investments. Eight items cover domestic affairs while the other six concern assets.

More than 1.5 million officials submitted their declarations last year, People's Daily Online reported.

In the measure that took effect in January, all officials being considered for deputy division, deputy departmental levels and other critical posts had to have their records inspected and verified, Xinhua reported.

The Communist Party's Organisation Department, which oversees personnel matters, said it would keep a record of those officials who made false declarations and strengthen disciplinary action against them.

The Central Party School's Professor Xin Ming said it was important to extend the scope of monitoring to mid-level cadres because of the extensive and complex scale of the civil service.

"Lower-ranking cadres do not necessarily hold less power in their hands," Xin told People's Daily, adding that it was vital to highlight declarations on domestic affairs as they played a fundamental role in society.

Meanwhile, speaking at a Credit Suisse forum in Hong Kong yesterday, Li Cheng, director of the Brookings Institute's John L Thornton China Centre, said Xi's removal of a number of corrupt top officials had helped pave the way to roll out a series of reforms. "The general public, low- and medium-level military support Xi, but some senior military officers … might not go along with him," he said.