Starting on January 1, 2006, an Internet bribery blacklist was opened to the public. At present, the country's procuratorates at the intermediate level and above are putting information about all the bribe-offering cases since 1997 into a database in five categories: construction, finance, education, medicine and government procurement. The name of the unit, its location and details of the case are included for corporate crimes. For individual cases, the contents include the person's name, ID number and case details. An individual's name can be automatically deleted from the database only after there is no record of offering bribes for five consecutive years.

The database is merely an information provider, a passive response, but its function should not be underestimated, especially in this information society. A blacklisted company may be shut down and a person may have his reputation ruined, said Mo Yuchuan, a law professor at the Renmin University of China.

"Housing developers in Beicang District turn pale when the blacklist is mentioned; they are afraid of losing their business," said Wang Guomin, head of the Beicang People's Procuratorate in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

The Central Government has directly appointed the chiefs of the local discipline inspection commissions in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, instead of their being appointed by the local governments. Public opinion holds that this is due to the occurrence of major corruption cases in these municipalities in 2006. At the same time, the heads of 10 provincial discipline inspection commissions were transferred.

The Central Government is trying to get a firm hold on the appointment of provincial discipline inspection commission chiefs in order to impose its direct control on local anti-corruption work, the Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po analyzed.

It has come to the Central Government's attention that the occurrence of many corruption cases is the result of the weakness and malfunctioning of the local anti-corruption bodies. Many believe that the massive reshuffling of personnel will inject more life into the anti-corruption efforts.

"It's too early to say something about the personnel reshuffle," said Wang Guixiu, the Central Party School professor. In his opinion, the root of fighting corruption lies in the system, instead of the mandate from top leaders and massive investigations. "Sending down a discipline inspection chief hardly makes any difference to the anti-corruption situation," said Wang, adding that deepening political reform and promoting intraparty democracy is a must for further anti-corruption progress; otherwise, twice the effort will yield half the results.

International cooperation

China has also expanded its international cooperation to combat corruption. Since September 1987, China has signed mutual legal assistance treaties with 49 countries and bilateral extradition treaties with nearly 30 countries. China's Supreme People's Procuratorate has signed 83 bilateral cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding with 75 foreign judicial and inspection bodies.

China's actively seeking help through international cooperation to root out corruption is a new trend, said Liao of Transparency International.

The UN anti-corruption treaty, which is the most influential and comprehensive anti-corruption convention, took effect in China on February 12, 2006. It provides a legal framework for the international community to jointly crack down on corruption.

Last February, anti-corruption experts from the Sino-U.S. Joint Liaison Group (JLG) held a second meeting in Beijing and both sides made it clear that they will institutionalize the JLG mechanism and increase bilateral cooperation within the framework. In April, the two sides jointly held an anti-corruption seminar under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, where officials and experts from 18 international organizations and members of APEC touched upon the extradition of corrupt persons and the return of corrupt money.

That same month, the National People's Congress approved China's first bilateral extradition treaty with Spain. In October, the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities announced its establishment with Jia Chunwang, head of China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, elected president of the organization.

In addition, publications are being compiled to follow up and study international anti-corruption efforts and to be used as reference materials for top officials to make decisions and policies.

"The deepening of international cooperation demonstrates China's resolution and faith in fighting against corruption and building clean politics," said Khalid Malik, United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in China.