Edward Lehman, Managing Director of Lehman, Lee & Xu, appeared as a guest speaker in the Dialogue program on CCTV-9 on July 20
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to discuss new anti-corruption measures implemented by the Chinese government. Mr. Lehman appeared on the program along with Dr. Victor Gao, a current affairs commentator who used to work as the interpreter to former Chinese leader Deng Xiao Ping.
The new laws, which went into effect on July 11
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, are the fourth such set of reforms in recent history. China implemented anti-corruption measures in 1995, 1997, and in 2006 that required officials at or above the deputy county level to report their assets. Each new group of revisions to the laws have required more reporting and transparency – the newest regulations now specify that officials must provide records of the assets and employment of their spouses and children, their income from other sources (such as lecturing), any housing owned by their family, and their investments in unlisted companies. However, the disclosures under the new system are still made to higher-level officials for review, and are not made available to the general public.
Mr. Lehman praised the new law as a positive step forward. Over 5,800 officials have been charged with corruption in the last 10 month, and 90% of the public supports more anti-corruption measures. Despite the regulations, China is ranked 79
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out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Mr. Lehman did point out that the United States, ranked 19
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, also has had several highly visible corruption scandals recently and has room for improvement as well. He added that future measures to combat corruption in China should include stronger measures to enforce the rules and punish offenders, and publicly disclosing officials’ information and any sanctions that may be made.
