Informant webpages help gather corruption tip-offs

BEIJING - Informant webpages opened on China's major online media outlets last month have been effective in encouraging netizens to provide anti-corruption tips in an orderly manner, authorities said Wednesday.

The State Internet Information Office (SIIO) made the remarks in a statement hailing a simultaneous move by websites run by the Xinhua News Agency, the People's Daily, as well as firms Sina, Sohu and Netease, to open special informant webpages on April 19.

By clicking a highlighted logo on the websites' home pages, viewers are ushered into the informant pages, which directly link to five major online tip centers set up by Chinese authorities.

Netizens can tip the organs of the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Land and Resources, on graft and corruption among Party or government officials.

The SIIO on Wednesday said the daily page views of the five informant centers sponsored by authorities have trebled, with the total number of tips nearly doubled, since the opening of the informant pages and links on China's major online media outlets.

Citing comments from Internet users, the SIIO statement said the move by China's online media outlets will facilitate public tips on corruption in an orderly and legitimate manner.