Chinese City Will Curb Extortion by Forcing Extramarital Confessions (moved from ATSNN), page 1

The Chinese city of Nanjing is telling city and communist party officials to divulge information about their sex lives in an effort to combat extortion and other forms of corruption. It has been estimated that 95% of officials convicted of corruption are guilty of having extramarital affairs.

news.xinhuanet.com
The Municipal Government of Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, issued a regulation in May requiring officials to report their extramarital affairs, with a belief that the stipulation could curb corruption.

The new anti-corruption method has sparked wide debate in China.

One of most notorious corruption cases also involved mistresses. Cheng Kejie, former vice-chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, and his mistress Li Ping had conspired to take a bribe worth more than 40 million yuan for their planned marriage after divorcing their spouses. Cheng was sentenced to death and was executed in 2000.

The regulation, which also give government permission to intervene in the relationship if official's family stability is affected, has sparked heated debate in Chinese legal community.

Zhuo Zeyuan, a professor in the politics and law department under the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said the system of letting officials report marriage status will help put officials under public supervision. But the reporting should not infringe the fundamental interests of the official's spouse.

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On one hand, this sex-life control of party members is reminiscent of Orwell's 1984. On the other hand, the fact remains that most corrupt party members have mistresses and may be involved victims of extortion as a result of their extramarital lives.

This new weapon against corruption doesn't seem to be the best measure available. This is more of a problem-reaction-solution measure by Nanjing, and does not attack the heart of the problem of Chinese corruption.

Somehow, I think someone is missing the point.

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