BEIJING, Sept. 30 -- China has introduced measures to fight corruption in preparing the Beijing Olympics in 2008 that could become a blueprint for a wider campaign against graft, according to international anticorruption experts.
 
    In cooperation with international advisers, the Chinese government has instituted a range of procedures to minimize the potential for corruption in contracts for the Games, which it estimates will be worth up to $16 billion.

    These include more frequent audits of spending, last-minute selection of experts to decide on contract bids to reduce the possibility of bribery, threats of blacklisting for corrupt contractors, the opening of tenders to public scrutiny on the Internet and establishing public hot lines for public complaints.

    For a country where rapid economic growth and massive infrastructure spending over more than two decades have led to numerous government scandals involving bribery, embezzlement and kickbacks, staging a high-profile international event such as the Olympics has become a test case for the ability of the Communist Party to combat corruption.
   
    "If it works successfully, China would like to use it as a framework for national guidelines on big infrastructure projects," said Janos Bertok, an expert on corruption in China at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

    Speaking this week on the sidelines of an anti-corruption conference in Beijing organized by the Asian Development Bank and the OECD, Bertok said the Chinese authorities planned to carry out a study into all preventative measures, from awarding construction and procurement contracts for the Olympics through to ticket distribution. The findings would be a factor in deciding if the measures could be applied to other major projects.

    On Wednesday, Hua Jianmin, a senior member of China's cabinet, the State Council, said the authorities would intensify efforts against corruption in government.

    "We will continue to follow the strategic approach of tackling both the symptoms and the root causes, taking comprehensive measures, combining punishment and prevention with emphasis on the latter," Hua said.

    Senior Chinese officials have been reported in the official news media as saying that the new measures have so far ensured that construction projects for the Games have been corruption free.

    Anticorruption experts attending this week's conference said Hua's speech, with its recognition that prevention was as important as draconian punishment, was a clear sign of changing attitudes toward fighting corruption at high levels of the Chinese government.

    China has traditionally relied on the threat of serious punishment, including the death penalty, to deter graft.

    However, international advisers and specialists from Hong Kong have been advising the Chinese government that education, transparency and preventative measures are also important.

    In fact, some experts believe the threat of execution is ineffective in many instances in China. They note that very senior officials with powerful patrons are rarely executed for corruption.  

    It is difficult to estimate the scope and cost of corruption in China, but senior officials acknowledge that graft is a serious problem in almost all sectors of the economy.

    Experts note that opportunities for graft often multiply in countries like China, where the political and economic systems are in transition between planned and market economies.

    Similar problems were encountered in Eastern Europe.

    In recent years the arrest and imprisonment of senior officials at the top of China's banking and financial system including the former head of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, Liu Jinbao, the former head of the China Construction Bank, Wang Xuebing, and the former chairman of the China Everbright Group, Zhu Xiaohua, suggests that corruption is deeply entrenched at the top levels of government and business. Transparency International last year ranked China 71st out of 146 countries in its annual Corruption Perception index.

    However, some experts say they believe that the Chinese authorities have made some progress in curbing graft.

    In April, China became the 25th member of a joint ADB/OECD anticorruption grouping that commits governments to work toward eliminating graft. High-profile successes in exposing corruption by China's auditor general, Li Jinhua, have also been cited as evidence of change. And the government has recently drafted tough laws covering government procurement contracts.

    "The signs we are seeing are signs pointing in the right direction," said Jak Jabes, director of the governance and regional cooperation division at the Asian Development Bank. "I think you need to give a country a bit of time."

    (Source: China Daily)