China's top anti-corruption agencies have experienced an
unprecedented reshuffle, according to a report in Tuesday's
Legal Evening Post.
The internal reshuffle involved 108 high-ranking officials in
eight departments of the Central Commission for Discipline
Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Ministry
of Supervision.
Sixty-seven officials were reassigned between departments and 41
reallocated positions within them.
They were selected according to the time they had been in post
(over five, eight or ten years) and to the particular posts that
they held.
"If an official stays in one post for too long, they are more
prone to corruption," Shao Daosheng, a researcher at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, told the newspaper.
"The reshuffle will not only prevent them from indulging in
nepotism, it should also stimulate creativity and encourage mutual
supervision," Shao added.
In 1996, the Ministry of Personnel issued the Provisional
Regulations on Reshuffling of Government Civil Servants, which
required officials in post for over five years to change
positions.
"Many government departments implement the regulations but such
a big reshuffle involving over a hundred high-ranking officials is
unprecedented," the newspaper quoted the Organization Department of
the CPC Central Committee as saying.
The commission and the ministry plan to widen the range of
officials involved in reshuffles and to carry them out each
year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2005)