On Monday, China's leading women’s organization
called on wives of officials nationwide to help build a "family
firewall" against corruption at the launch of a new anti-graft
campaign.
"Reviewing cases uncovered in recent years,
corruption can not only shake the stability of a family, but also
cause deaths of family members," said Huang Qingyi, a
vice-chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF).
The campaign, named "All families render a helping
hand in the fight against corruption," aims to mobilize tens of
millions of families to join anti-graft efforts.
An ACWF official told Xinhua News Agency that the
federation was taking action in response to central authorities,
which stressed the role families can play in checking corruption in
a document issued in January.
Some leading officials also became corrupt partly
because of the "bad influence" of family members, said Huang.
She cited the example of Jiao Zhiren, former mayor
of Laizhou City in east China's Shandong
Province, who was sentenced to life
imprisonment in 2002 for taking bribes worth more than 1.6 million
yuan (US$194,000).
"During his trial, Jiao said his wife should be
held responsible for at least half of his crime, as she had
directly accepted some 430,000 yuan (US$52,000) of the illicit
money," said Huang.
The ACWF said it is planning a series of other
activities to help fight corruption, including the selection and
honoring of "model families," an "uncorrupt family" convention and
anti-graft messages distributed nationally to households.
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2005)