Property declarations by government officials in Altay in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Northwest China, are profoundly important to the crusade against corruption.

Of the 1,064 officials required to declare their assets, 1,056 obliged. Details on the outstanding eight officials have yet to emerge.

Some of the officials were said to have declared their real estate in the autonomous region's capital Urumqi or elsewhere.

But none of them said they had ever received any gifts in return for abusing their power.

Disappointment was inevitable among netizens, who hoped the process would weed out some bad apples.

Yet, a preventative mechanism against corruption is only part of the fight against this social scourge.

It is unrealistic to hope that a full asset disclosure can quickly develop into a firewall against power abuse.

Regardless of the system's current shortcomings, the fact that almost all officials obliged with disclosures, and that the details were published online, represents real progress in public administration.

Central authorities have emphasized on many occasions the importance of preventing power abuses, and the latest moves in Altay reflect the inexorable march of more transparent government.

If governments in other localities can follow suit, substantial progress will be made in this regard.

What is noteworthy is the fact that property such as declared shares and bonds will be kept a secret in order to protect the privacy of relevant officials.

The person who drafted and promoted the implementation of this system said a transition was needed for the declaration of all property.

It is thought that the system has been designed for a smooth introduction before a more far-reaching mechanism is established.

It is hoped that checks on suspicious property that was declared will be done in a timely manner.

Rules must also be introduced to severely punish those officials who intentionally concealed any assets.

The discipline inspection department of Altay has performed the first step to establish a sound mechanism against power abuse.

We still have a long way to go to put in place a sound property declaration system in all public institutions.

The current investigation of two government officials thanks to online tipoffs offers hope that strong public sentiment against corruption will increasingly help the fight against it.

So we have reason to believe that the property declaration system will become more mature and play a significant role in the near future.

(China Daily February 20, 2009)