Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – On 2 January, the government of China published a "blacklist" on the internet of people condemned for corruption or related crimes from 1997 to the present day.

The list includes the names of individuals and organisations active in the finance, construction, education, health and government procurement sectors.

The operation is being undertaken by China's top prosecution office, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, which hopes to rein in the phenomenon.

A lack of democracy and freedom of the press make it difficult to monitor the situation and facilitates bribery. But the government is not prepared to cede its control in the matter, which is currently managed by an internal monitoring commission set up by the Communist Party.

 In September last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published official data on the phenomenon and said that corruption was endemic in China, representing between 3 and 5% of China's gross domestic product, or between 409 billion yuan and 683 billion yuan.