The Jiaxing government in Zhejiang province has released information about the families of nominated public servants with the aim of ensuring fairness in the selection of government officials.

It is the first time in China that a government has released such information during official selections, according to the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post.

In the announcement on Nov 6, the 15 nominated people, who are being nurtured as possible officials of the future, not only had their personal information, such as ages and positions, disclosed but also the employment background and positions of their immediate family members.

All the nominated people were born after 1975, with the youngest born in 1980.

The release of information about candidates' family members was seen as a way of eliminating public suspicion about under-the-table deals in selecting officials.

Chen Lingen, an official from the organization department of Communist Party of China Jiaxing committee, told the media that the selection process attracted great attention in Jiaxing, so the government decided to disclose the family information.

In recent years, there have been scandals involving government officials who have selected and promoted their children or other family members as future government officials. These revelations triggered great anger among the public.

For example, in Shandong's Xintai city, a 23-year-old woman was appointed deputy director of the State-owned properties management bureau of the city in February. Some netizens claimed that she was the daughter-in-law of a high-ranking local official, although the local government denied this.

The Jiaxing government thus expected the disclosure of information would make the selection process more transparent and eliminate unnecessary suspicion.

"It does not matter if the nominated officials are the children or family members of government officials or not, as long as the procedure is fair and transparent. What we need is a fair selection procedure," said a netizen named Beihuyoule from Shanghai.

But the names of the immediate family members of the 15 nominated officials in Jiaxing, which included parents, spouses and children, were not required. According to the local government, this move was intended to protect the privacy of the officials and their families.

"It may not be necessary to disclose information about their children, but it is necessary to disclose the information about the officials' other relatives," said Wu Dong, a lawyer with M & A Law Firm based in Shanghai.

"Privacy protection is not the same for everyone. To people such as government officials, the protection level will be lowered as their privacy is directly related to the public interest," Wu said.