'Naked officials' of corruption

As a matter of fact, a lot of corruption cases busted in China in the past few years have revealed the luoguan connection. For example, in 2012, Wang Guoqiang, the former Party chief of Fengcheng, a small city in Liaoning province, fled to the United States with his wife, a local customs official, to join his daughter after having made a rumored 200 million yuan ($3.2 million) in illicit funds. Ridiculously enough, four months later, the provincial authorities launched an investigation against Wang for accepting bribes and violating Party regulations on traveling overseas without permission, and fired him from his Party and government posts.

In 2013, investigations against Zhang Shuguang, the former deputy chief engineer of the now defunct Ministry of Railways accused of taking 47.6 billion yuan in bribes, also found that his wife and daughter had migrated to the US, where they owned a large mansion.

Thousands of Chinese officials are said to have fled the country with assets worth hundreds of billions of yuan over the past couple of decades. Such officials' escape from the country, especially the escape of those holding leading posts such as Gao Yan, the former Party chief of Yunnan province, has not only caused enormous economic loss for China but also seriously hurt the Party's image.

Given that luoguan, especially the corrupt ones, have a stronger urge to flee abroad, the higher authorities have to keep a tight leash on them. Besides, the higher authorities should also take necessary measures to remove them from key posts to preempt corruption. Guangdong's crackdown on luoguan is thus a good start in the intensified fight against corruption, which should be emulated by other provinces and regions.

Considering that the public believes that most of the luoguan lack honesty and integrity, the higher authorities should not confine the crackdown on just demoting or firing them. If need be, they should launch thorough investigations to determine whether they have indulged in corruption, and punish them if they have.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. wuyixue@chinadaily.com.cn.