Party and government officials will not be allowed to take posts in enterprises starting in May, according to a notice released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), nor will business and industry leaders be permitted to hold government or Party posts.

Experts say the new rule is “very necessary.”

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the country’s top body for official management, recently issued a circular calling for the elimination of dual posts by the end of April, according to China Central Television (CCTV).

“If a government official has a post in an enterprise, it is very likely that the enterprise will enjoy some preferential policies and benefits from him,” said Liu Suhua, an expert with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

This will lead to unfair competition and destroy market order, she said, and the official will be prone to corruption because of the economic benefits involved.

Therefore, it is necessary and a good move for the country to eliminate such occurrences, she added.

Party committees and governments at all levels and their subordinate departments should no longer approve concurrent posts in enterprises held by Party and government officials, according to the circular.

Such officials who currently hold posts in enterprises are required to resign.

Meanwhile, enterprise leaders who hold Party and government posts should be deprived of their posts in Party and government bodies.

But exceptions are to be allowed in cities whose establishment is based on local enterprises and where enterprise leaders have been holding Party and government posts to lubricate government-enterprise relations.

In such cities, where concurrent posts are really needed, Party and government officials will be allowed to continue holding posts in enterprises.

However, the situation will be strictly supervised and managed. Holders of dual posts must receive approval from the organization departments of superior Party committees.

According to the circular, enterprise leaders can still hold their posts if they are elected as officials in the National People’s Congress (NPC) or the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and do not need to be stationed at the NPC or CPPCC.

When Party and government officials need to act as enterprise leaders, they must resign the Party and government posts, while enterprise leaders also have to resign their enterprise posts if they need to work as Party and government officials.

In some parts of China, the holding of dual posts has already been eliminated.

Xinhua News Agency reports that Zhan Xialai, Party secretary of Wuhu, east China’s Anhui Province, resigned his role as chairman of the board of an automobile company in the city.

Other Party and government officials who held posts in a construction investment company also resigned their company posts.

(China Daily March 25, 2004)