Zhang Shuguang, a former senior official of the Ministry of Railways, stands trial in Beijing on Septembe 10, 2013, on chrages of accepting bribes GONG LEI

On June 6, after two months of investigation, the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced that it had found more than 1,000 "naked officials" in the southern Chinese province. Naked officials refer to those whose spouses and children have moved overseas.

During the overhaul, some 200 officials had asked their families to return, while 866 agreed to accept demotion, including nine at mayoral level, according to a statement issued by the Organization Department of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee.

The department did not release the names of those involved, but said that the problem was the worst in Dongguan, a city near Hong Kong, where 127 officials were demoted, including 19 at county level.

Liu Xutao, Deputy Director of the Public Administration of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Governance, said that the current measures have been effective as a warning to other officials.

"Guangdong's move shows the government's resolve in removing naked officials from public service," he said.

Setting an example

Guangdong launched a slew of investigations into naked officials back in February, when a statement issued by a disciplinary inspection team sent by central authorities said that the problem in this aspect was "jaw dropping" in the province.

Demotions were given to many such officials based on a previous provincial regulation that ruled naked officials would be barred from top positions in Party and government departments.

In one recent high-profile case, Fang Xuan, former deputy Party chief of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, was asked to leave his post in May.

Fang was born in 1954 and will not reach the official retirement age for officials of his rank, which is 60 years old, until October. He took the post in November 2011, and it is alleged that taking early retirement was suggested after authorities found him to be a naked official, according to the official microblog of People's Daily, a leading Chinese newspaper.

Xin Ming, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said that Fang's early retirement shows the local government's determination to solve the problem.

In February, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee issued an internal document, stating that naked officials should either bring their families back home or retire ahead of time.

Since then, many Party and government officials in cities in the Pearl River Delta, one of the world's major manufacturing centers in Guangdong, have asked their spouses to return to the mainland and reapply for their household registrations, according to a report by the Hong Kong-based newspaper Mingpao.

According to Han Zhipeng, a member of the Guangzhou Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the local advisory body, the number of naked officials in the Pearl River Delta is believed to have exceeded that in other parts of the country because of its rapid economic development.

With the region's thriving international trade, it is easier for local officials to connect with other countries, said Yang Danna, a public administration professor at the Party School of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee. "The number of naked officials has skyrocketed over the past decade. It used to be only thousands but now it is over 1 million," he noted.

Xiao Bin, a professor at the School of Government at Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, said that naked officials are considered particularly high-risk when it comes to corruption.

"Naked officials are not necessarily corrupt, but they are just one step away," Xiao said. For example, police found that many of them had transferred large amounts of assets overseas and sent their family members abroad to escape punishment.

Statistics from the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 2011 showed that 1,631 fugitives on corruption charges were arrested, a 27-percent year-on-year increase. Proceeds from their crimes worth 7.7 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) have been recovered.

In 2011, Luo Yinguo, former deputy Party chief of Maoming in Guangdong, was detained for accepting bribes and abuses of power. Luo possessed faked identity cards that he used to easily cross the border. Luo's children also possessed foreign citizenships.

In another high-profile case, Zhang Shuguang, former head of the Ministry of Railways' Transportation Bureau, stood trial in the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court on September 10, 2013. Zhang was accused of accepting more than 47 million yuan ($7.54 million) in bribes from 14 companies between 2000 and 2011, when he served in a variety of positions in the ministry. The court has not given a date for its ruling on Zhang's case. Both Zhang's wife and daughter were found to have emigrated to the United States, where they owned a luxurious villa in Los Angeles.

"These people are civil servants, paid by taxpayers, but it seems that they are ready to flee for a reunion with their families abroad anytime. This is intolerable in any country," Xiao added.

Zhang Yiri, an associate professor at Guangzhou City Polytechnic, agreed that naked officials' patriotism and incorruptibility should be questioned. Investigating naked officials and adjusting their positions will aid in the fight against corruption involving Party and government officials, he said.

The system of reassigning naked officials is like a cage that confines possible problems and corruptions, said Yang Jianwei, Vice President of the Party School of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee.

However, Zheng Fenming, Director of the Institute of Modernization Strategy at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said that demoting naked officials is only a remedial measure for preventing corruption. "Fighting official corruption should not rely only on the investigation from anti-graft bodies and relevant departments," he added.

A nationwide concern

Xin with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee said that the problem of naked officials has long persisted because of a shortage of sufficient and effective measures to deal with this group of people.

In January, the CPC Central Committee released regulations stating that officials whose spouses and children have emigrated will be denied promotions. It was the first time the Party had put restrictions on naked officials.

All officials are also required to submit annual reports by January 31 each year on their personal property and on the situation of their spouses and children.

Many applauded the new regulations, saying they would prevent corrupt officials from fleeing overseas with public funds.

Compared to previous rules on the promotion of government officials, the new regulations have made more concrete stipulations and set higher standards for the behavior of officials, said Cheng Wenhao, a professor of public administration at Tsinghua University.

However, Xin thinks the regulations are not enough to deter naked officials. "The number of naked officials has to be decreased rather than just cutting off their chances at promotion," Xin said. "More specific rules and regulations targeting this group should be put in place to prevent such situations."

Xiao with Sun Yat-sen University agreed. "What is more important is not allowing anyone the opportunity to become a naked official in the first place," Xin said. "Guangzhou is doing what we should have done before. Their practices should be used nationwide."