Asia Times
Jun 16, 2010
By Wu Zhong, China Editor

HONG KONG – China’s power center in Beijing has in recent years encouraged regional authorities to introduce anti-corruption policies to combat official corruption and increase transparency. It’s become known as the “Sunshine” policy.

Some people wonder why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cannot devise a national “Sunshine” policy and enforce it. The US has so-called “Sunshine” laws that require that government data be made available to the public. After all, though regions have an increasingly greater say in economic affairs, political power in China is centralized under the CCP’s control.

In reality, however, things are not as simple. Though China is ruled by the CCP and its political power is centralized, this does not guarantee that regions follow Beijing’s word to the letter. In

any society there are privileged people and interests, and China is no exception. Any new policy that affects these interests naturally meets with opposition.

Even with his unchallengeable authority, it was difficult for paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to start the country’s process of economic reform and opening up – nearly every step was a hard struggle. In today’s China, there is no “strongman” like Deng, and there are even more interest groups, due to the economic growth and wealth redistribution of the past three decades.

Given rampant official corruption, one could say that party officials are the largest interest group. Officialdom is also the biggest opposition to plans for a “Sunshine” law that the government proposed last year that would see officials declaring their assets and those of their spouses and children.

The policy was opposed by the CCP’s central committee, and the power center has since tried to “encourage” localities to implement anti-graft policies in the hope of “bottom-to-top” change. Many reforms in the past 30 years started at the grassroots level.

With or without a proper understanding of Beijing’s intentions, some governments at the grassroots have began to introduce transparency measures. The most impressive example is Baimiao township under Bazhou district of Bazhong city, Sichuan province. A township is the lowest-ranking administrative unit in China’s bureaucratic hierarchy.    more …