Among the newly promoted government officials last year, 59.8 percent, or 180,000, got their positions via a system of open competition, according to the Ministry of Personnel.

Since 1998 when the system was introduced, about 353,000 people have stood out and moved ahead courtesy of the process.

It is, no doubt, an inspiring message -- especially at a time when corruption still runs rampant.

Under the system, government positions and requirements needed to fulfill them are made public, and applicants have to take part in examinations and undergo comprehensive evaluation by the public, their peers and organization departments.

Recruitment in such a transparent way helps ensure that the top applicants are chosen and most importantly, it helps stamp out nepotism from officials in higher-echelons.

The older system leads to many officials becoming the lap dogs of their superiors, instead of performing their duties for the public. It also explains why some corrupt officials are able to climb even higher.

One of the latest examples is Wang Huaizhong. He climbed smoothly through the ranks from a small city to become the vice-governor of Anhui Province, thanks to his superiors before he was found having committed corruption and had a bad reputation among the local people in Fuyang, where he worked before the promotion.

Without a democratic procedure and supervision, it is hard to guarantee the justice in official selection and promotion processes.

Worse, when the right to decide who will move up is dominated by a few higher-ranking officials and when the whole procedure is carried out clandestinely, there might be temptation for people to buy their way up the ladder.

Past experience shows the process of choosing and promoting government officials is vulnerable to corruption. Quite a number of cases have been exposed in which higher-level officials have taken bribes and wielded their influence in the process.

The well-intentioned system, however, is far from being perfect and some central government departments have so far failed to introduce it.

Also, it has not been taken on board uniformly among the provinces that have accepted it.

But the Personnel Ministry is drafting a special document to make it an airtight procedure.

(China Daily August 14, 2003)