District officials publish assets online

Some 600 district government officials serving in one southern China city have publicly disclosed their assets online, becoming the country's first, Xinhua Daily reported Monday.

As part of a clean government program advocated by Wu Xinfu - the party chief of Jiawang District of Xuzhou city in East China's Jiangsu province, all 600 section-level officials in the district are required to declare their private properties which will be published on the district government's website.

But, the new system has been questioned by some as the information is self-submitted by officials. A lot registered only one personal apartment in the declaration form, with no other income except their wage.

Zhang Qiuyue, head of the district's discipline department, defended the move saying that if officials made fraudulent declarations, it will be regarded as a discipline violation.