Close eye on 'naked officials'

Given that thousands of officials have fled abroad with wealth obtained through abuse of their power, and their first step was sending their spouses and children abroad, it is natural for the government to doubt the devotion and loyalty of those whose spouses and children are living overseas as permanent residents.

So it is little wonder the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee released rules on the management of such officials in February. Commonly known as luoguan, or naked officials, they are required to report to the organizational department about their spouses' emigration and are not allowed to take leading positions in government and Party departments, State-owned enterprises and important positions related to national security.

More than 3,200 such officials have so far notified the authorities as being in such conditions and more than 1,000 of them have been moved to unimportant positions.

It indeed remains a question whether an official whose family is living overseas will be devoted wholeheartedly to his or her work. And it is natural for others to wonder whether he or she may choose to flee abroad some day to reunite with their spouses and children.

So it is an important component of the anti-graft fight to tighten management over such officials. Certainly, efforts should also be made to have their incomes carefully audited before they retire and emigrate overseas to join their families.

Another important question that should not be ignored is why so many officials have chosen to send their spouses and children overseas.

Very few of them would say that they do not love their country. They would give different reasons for their spouses or children staying in a foreign land with permanent residence or as foreign residents. But when so many of them chose to do so, there must be something very undesirable with our country's institutional arrangements that needs to be mended.

People have enough reason to hate corrupt officials who steal State wealth by abusing their power. They may also have enough reason to doubt naked officials.

But it is far from enough to just tighten management over such officials, so that they have fewer opportunities for abusing their power and are less willing to send their families overseas, without thinking about improving the institutional arrangements.