Chinese officials can no longer appoint their spouses, children or other close relatives to senior positions on their staff, state media said Monday, citing new regulations.
The rules, issued by the ruling Communist Party, bar both government and party bureaucrats from hiring family mmbers for jobs such as accountants, auditors or human resource managers, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The new regulation also seek to target more indirect cases of nepotism, saying officials must not work in a government office that supervises any industry or enterprise in which their family members hold shares.
In addition, the regulations stipulate that officials cannot take on leading positions in the party, government, or judicial organs in the county where they were born and grow up.
Corruption in the Communist Party and the government bureaucracy is a source of considerable dissatisfaction among the public.
In a speech on June 30 to mark the 85th anniversary of the Communist Party, President Hu Jintao said corruption in the organization's ranks was "particularly serious."
"Some leaders and cadres use their positions to seek benefits, (they) are corrupt, they take bribes and they breach the law. Corruption cases occur often," Hu said.
"Resist the corrosion of negative and rotten thoughts such as the worship of money, hedonism, extreme individualism," he ordered.
