A large number of Chinese local officials were given job appraisals this year, reinforcing public confidence in the fight against corruption.

In Zhuhai City in south China's Guangdong Province and Guiyang, capital of southwestern Guizhou Province, legislatures this year required assessments of deputy mayors, the highest officials yet to undergo such scrutiny.

China's high-ranking civil servants appraisal system of authorizes legislatures to supervision of officials' work performance. Appointed officials who fail to secure more than half of votes at a legislature job appraisal can be sacked.

However, in the 17-year history of China's work appraisal system, legislative supervision has been weak, and called a "formality" by many citizens.

But Hu Wei, deputy director of the International Public Affairs Management Institute of elite Shanghai University of Transportation, said legislature supervision is making major progress this year.

Ge Ailing, director of the Shanghai Municipal Audit Bureau, and Li Yiping, director of the Shanghai Municipal Council of Science, have recently experienced the local legislature's increased supervisory power.

At a job appraisal meeting held by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress (SPC), Ge and Li were each given half an hour to deliver work reports. Previous to their statements, they underwent a three-month long job-assessment investigation led by the Shanghai legislature.

During the investigation, the legislature issued 862 questions about Ge's performance to SPC delegates as well as 130 audited companies and institutes.

The Shanghai legislature is preparing to take opinions from ordinary citizens into account in its job appraisals as a next step.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Municipal People's Congress also announced earlier this year it was also introducing secret inquiries and issuing anonymous questionnaires.

In central China's Hunan Province, 10 officials who failed the provincial legislature's job appraisal were sacked or reprimanded in the last five years, after the legislature started its supervision function in 2001.

The legislature in Wenzhou, a coastal city in east China's Zhejiang Province known for its booming private economy, pushed four county-level officials under its spotlight in July, broadcasting live on local TV and the Internet their self-evaluation reports to lawmakers.

This was the first such initiative in the city to allow citizens access to the job assessment procedures.

Wei Liqun, director of the State Council Research Office, a Chinese government think tank, said that generally speaking, the assessment of officials at various levels across the country was still not flawless.

He said China has entered the latter-transition period of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is facing a more complicated international environment, which brings new challenges to administration and governance.

Hu Wei also acknowledged that if the job appraisal power can been better enforced, it would be as forceful as an election in checking appointed officials' job commitment.

"Only when officials feel stress in job assessments could the supervision system work in checking officials' behaviors," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2005)