Anti-corruption system

Although no details have been disclosed about the new leadership's five-year anti-corruption plan (2013-17), the recent vow made by its top disciplinary watchdog to conduct spot checks on officials' assets is a forcible step forward and inspires the hope that some potent follow-up measures are in the offing.

At the watchdog's plenary session on Monday, the second since it was elected in November, Wang Qishan, its new leader, said officials should report the required personal information, including their assets, to anti-graft bodies, and the authorities will conduct spot checks to verify the truthfulness of their asset declarations.

This is a step toward the long-anticipated systematized disclosure of officials' assets, a move that would help effectively prevent corruption. A recent series of corruption cases involving the possession of multiple properties by some local officials are evidence of the need for a comprehensive and binding national system for the disclosure of officials' assets.