A pilot project aimed at preventing and fighting corruption will officially take effect after the Lunar New Year in Nansha district in Guangzhou, the Guangdong provincial capital.

Under the program, major Party and government officials will be required to report their assets, investments and the employment situations of their spouses and children, according to Mei Heqing, a member of the standing committee with the Guangzhou Party Commission for Discipline Inspection.

"Officials' assets will be made public, and public opinion will be sought when the pilot project is introduced," Mei said at a news conference on Monday.

"Making information on government operations and government and Party officials more transparent, by putting it in the public domain, will be an effective way to fight corruption."

Mei said his commission is busy studying details and relevant rules and regulations for the pilot project, and the city government will soon send representatives to visit the bordering Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions to learn of the anti-graft experiences there, and seek more cooperation in the field.

In addition to Nansha, at the mouth of the Pearl River, the Hengqin New Area in Zhuhai and Shixing county in the northern part of Guangdong have been selected as pilot areas where officials will be asked to reveal their assets later this year, according to authorities from the Guangdong Provincial Party Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Han Zhipeng, a member of the Guangzhou Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said placing officials under the scrutiny of society and the media will help to further standardize official codes of conduct and help make government operations more transparent.

"Open and transparent government operations are important to preventing and fighting official corruption," he added.

- Zheng Caixiong

(China Daily 01/23/2013 page3)