Even Officials Whose Children Alone Live Overseas, So-Called "Semi?Luoguan," Now Face Scrutiny
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) has reported that Chinese authorities have recently stepped up their crackdown on so?called "luoguan" (裸官, literally "naked officials," often referred to as "goose officials").
On the 19th, SCMP reported, citing three sources familiar with anti-corruption investigations, that since early last year inspections have been under way to look into overseas connections of senior officials and executives at government agencies and state-owned enterprises.
The term luoguan refers to Chinese officials and senior executives at state-owned enterprises whose spouses and children have emigrated or gone abroad to study. In the past, such investigations were aimed squarely at cracking down on luoguan. However, the monitoring scope has recently been expanded to include so?called "semi?luoguan." An anonymous Communist Party insider said, "Semi?luoguan are now subject to heightened surveillance, and relevant information must be reported in a timely manner."
One source said that the Organization Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, the Party's top personnel body, conducted a nationwide investigation in the first half of last year to dig into the overseas ties of senior officials. The source explained, "The Organization Department's investigation into luoguan (including semi?luoguan) does not in itself mean that they have done anything wrong," but added, "In China, luoguan are targets for anti-corruption watchdogs."
The source went on to say, "If a particular official has extensive connections overseas, the risk that they may become a target for infiltration by overseas forces, and the risk of corruption, can be higher, so the Organization Department transfers them to less sensitive posts."
Last year, 63 senior officials came under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China on corruption charges.
In 2010, Chinese authorities announced stricter management rules for officials whose spouses and children had emigrated or gone abroad to study, and began collecting information on them. At that time, luoguan were not defined as corrupt officials; the aim was to strengthen oversight and management of personnel with overseas family ties. However, after President Xi Jinping's rule effectively began in earnest with the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party in late 2012, regulations to sanction luoguan were introduced in January 2014. A 2014 policy document from the Party's Central Organization Department explicitly stipulated that in Party and state organs, the People's Liberation Army, and state-owned enterprises, luoguan are barred from promotion and cannot hold senior positions.
SCMP commented, "The recent changes mean that the authorities have become less tolerant of officials' family connections overseas," adding, "Some have lost promotion opportunities or have even been removed from their posts."
According to sources, in recent months a senior executive at a major state-owned insurance company was dismissed because his child lives in the United States and obtained permanent residency there. At an institution under a government ministry, a senior official was also dismissed after it was discovered that he had concealed the fact that his son holds U.S. permanent residency, another source said.
Yi Gang, former governor of the People's Bank of China and now deputy director of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is reported to have been removed from his post last November under the luoguan management measures. However, China's state-run media have hardly reported on this. After graduating from the economics department at Peking University, he earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois in the United States, became a tenured professor there, and then returned to China to serve as a senior official at the People's Bank of China. When he became governor of the People's Bank in 2018, reports emerged that his wife and son were living in the United States and owned high-value real estate there, but he was not punished at that time.
Observers say the purge of Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, and Liu Zhenli, a member of the Central Military Commission and chief of the Joint Staff Department, has intensified pressure targeting luoguan. On January 24, China's Ministry of National Defense announced their purge for "serious disciplinary violations," but there has been little active response from within the People's Liberation Army. This has fueled doubts about President Xi's grip on the military. The view is that crackdowns on luoguan and semi?luoguan are being carried out as part of efforts to purge the military and tighten discipline within the Party and government.
In addition, as foreign media have reported that the purge of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli was due to the leak of nuclear weapons-related data to the United States, some analysts say the campaign is also aimed at preventing military secrets from being leaked.
By expanding the crackdown on luoguan and semi?luoguan across the People's Liberation Army as well as within the Party, government, and state-owned enterprises, Xi Jinping is seen as trying to weed out potential political rivals or disgruntled elements and solidify his one-man rule.
Meanwhile, Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said this trend reflects a growing distrust of the West. He argued, "I cannot agree with the view that luoguan are more likely to be corrupt," and pointed out, "Dismissing officials simply because their family members live overseas causes the Party and the state to lose capable talent."
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