Local Experiment on the Official Property Declaration System

The official property declaration system is known as the "natural enemy" and "jinx" of corruption. Although the official property declaration system has not yet been established in China, some kinds of official property declaration system have been carried out in more than 30 counties since 2009, which accumulated a certain amount of local experience. The official property declaration system is only applied to a few cadres being promoted, which would reduce the resistance to the reform. Subjects who should declare their property are distinguished according to their duty instead of administrative level, which makes the system more efficient. Different information is made public to different groups, which helps keep a balance between official property declaration and their right of privacy. The declaration should also include official's debt. Though there are still some limitations in the innovations of these local institutions, they have enriched the construction of the official property declaration and accumulated valuable experience for future reform.