Chinese officials with spouses overseas won't be promoted

~~BEIJING - Government officials whose spouses or children have moved overseas will not be promoted, according to a regulation released by the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The regulation called on Government officials to lead a frugal life to get close to the public and clean up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucratism and hedonism. The restrictions on the promotion of "naked officials" - civil servants whose family members have migrated overseas - are expected to prevent corrupt officials from fleeing overseas with public funds.

Compared to previous rules on the promotion of Government officials, the regulation has made more concrete stipulations and set higher standards for the behaviour of officials. China has never released the total number of corrupt officials who have fled overseas, but statistics released by the Ministry of Supervision in November 2012 showed that 76 corrupt officials have been caught since 2007 after fleeing overseas.