Publicizing officials' assets

The publication of the personal properties of 128 newly promoted officials at the section head level in Banan District of Southwest China's Chongqing municipality recently can be considered a trial balloon before the implementation of a nationwide system in the near future.

With information such as their savings, motor vehicles, houses, stocks in the name of their family members, and marital status published in the district government bulletin, these officials have been placed under the supervision of the public. Any tip-off about any of them concealing personal properties will lead to their suspension from work until an investigation determines whether the allegations are true or not.

This is a ray of hope that the cage for locking power that Party General Secretary Xi Jinping once referred to is being built, since a mechanism for disclosing the personal properties of government and Party officials for public supervision was first mentioned in 1988.