It is an insult to the People's Republic of China: When Beijing attempted to divest local officials of their interests in often-dangerous private coal mines, it seemed to meet no small resistance.

On August 30, as part of its effort to kill the root cause of frequent coal mine disasters - officials' protective umbrellas for their mine-owner friends - the central government issued a decree demanding all public servants surrender their mining interests entirely by September 22. The only exception was those interests obtained through legitimate purchase from the capital market.

But by press time, there still were no reports of the project's nationwide completion. In fact, as reflected in official online news services, progress seemed to run into unexpected complications in some provinces.

In Henan Province, local media reported, 356 officials had registered with the government disciplinary authorities, involving 31.6 million yuan (US$3.9 million) worth of mining shares, or more than 80,000 yuan (US$9,860) per person. But these were only in seven cities and came only after the provincial government postponed the deadline to October 10. More than a week later, on October 18, a vice-governor of Henan was still making a threat to those, presumably, officials in other cities who were trying to hide their mining interests.

On October 10, in Xinjiang, which is also a fairly large coal-producing region, a report came that not a single official had yet registered his or her mining interests, and the deadline for confession was extended further to October 20.

On October 18, from Shanxi, China's largest coal-producing province, a report came that about 900 officials had admitted 90 million yuan (US$11.1 million) worth of mining interests, or about 100,000 yuan (US$12,330) per person. But among them, only 830 officials had actually surrendered their interests.

By October 19, disciplinary officials reported from Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China, that 237 officials had accumulated more than 90 million yuan's worth of shares, or 370,000 yuan (US$45,620) per person, in the local coal mines. They did not say if this was Guizhou's final result.

These are but sporadic pieces of evidence; they still do not show the whole picture. But from them, one gets the impression that it would still take more than just a couple of more weeks for China to make all its civil servants relinquish their clandestine interests in an industry that has frequently caused the world's worst industrial disasters.

Officials still trying to hang onto their mining shares (often given as gifts from local mine owners) are not just doing a disservice to implementing workplace safety standards in one or two or any given number of mining companies. Their very existence is a serious challenge to the central government's ideal of a harmonious society.

Actually, the ban on mining interests is not the first time the government has asked officials to stay away from the business. There were similar rules and advisories in the 1990s. But for all those years, between then and now, not a few officials managed to secretly make money from their offices - despite many rounds of educational campaigns. Just as there are officials who have traded power for shares in mining companies, there may also be ones who have been rewarded for helping their friends in other industries.

Such corruption is not a small matter. It makes it difficult for a government to protect its people, as enough has been seen in the many appalling coal mine explosions in this country and in the hideous cases that were exposed afterwards of collusion between local officials and mine owners in "saving the cost" of the necessary safety investment.

It reflects a general pattern. While the central government is making all the good policies, local officials would always find ways to distort or evade them in such a way as to wring personal benefit out of them. In the process, much damage was done to labour relations, business accountability, government effectiveness and the very texture of society.

China should not allow any more time for those officials to make confessions of their mining interests. A few more days or a few more weeks are unlikely to instill any more self-respect in their hearts and can be used only to transfer their interests. Any leniency or relaxation of the original decree can only result in doing more harm than harmony.

So, what to do is really simple: Just send criminal investigators to all the dangerous coal mines to dig out their official connections and have all the involved officials replaced or at least sent to criminal court. Why not? China has proved its ability to make the best rockets and train the best astronauts. It is time for it to have more useful civil servants.

Email: younuo@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/24/2005 page4)