ELEVEN members of the administration committee to be established to run the Qianhai special zone will be required to make public their incomes and financial interests when they are assigned to the posts, according to a draft regulation.
It is the first time a law on the Chinese mainland has required officials to declare their personal incomes and interests.
The regulation was announced yesterday to solicit public opinion after being assessed by the standing committee of the municipal people s congress, Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.
Qianhai, with Nansha in Guangzhou and Hengqin in Zhuhai, has been written into China s 12th Five-year Program for 2011 to 2015 as a testing ground of strategic importance.
Guangdong authorities hope that by granting Qianhai the liberty to experiment with new ideas in governance and economic policy, the new special zone will push the Pearl River Delta to new levels of prosperity.
The practice was learned from Hong Kong, where senior government officials are required to declare their assets, as well as other personal financial investments in the SAR and overseas, said Cao Jingjun, a professor of politics and public administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The practice in Qianhai would be slightly different from the SAR, Cao said. Hong Kong officials have to declare annually every single investment valued at HK$200,000 or above within seven days of a transaction, he said. But it has not defined income in the Qianhai case. It is not clear if the income includes investment returns, and property assets are also not defined if included. (SD News)
