China’s anti-corruption drive brings tighter rules for officials’ families to stop them exploiting their connections

New guidelines from the Communist Party Central Committee will restrict what activities senior officials’ relatives can take part in, such as running their own business

The rules will be stricter for more senior positions following a string of cases where family members have been used as intermediaries for corrupt practices

Reading Time:2 minutes

Xi Jinping told a recent Politburo meeting that the fight against corruption was key winning hearts and minds. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:00pm, 20 Jun 2022

The Chinese Communist Party has introduced new restrictions on the business activities of senior officials’ families as part of the ongoing anti-corruption drive.

The guidelines from the general office of the party’s Central Committee vary according to sector and the officials’ rank, according to state news agency Xinhua.

“The more senior the officials are, the stricter the rules are, and those for comprehensive departments [which oversee multiple areas of industry or government] are stricter than those for other departments,” the report said.

The full text has not been published, but the report said that in some cases the children and spouses of officials would be banned from activities such as starting their own business or investing in private equity.

The document said the rules were designed to ensure that senior cadres did not use their positions to gain improper benefits – a key element of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive.

Many corruption cases investigated in recent years involve officials protecting their families to run businesses and transfer wealth, according to the Central Committee’s organisation department.