GUANGZHOU - The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has issued rules to prevent corrupt village officials from taking refuge overseas, local authorities said Friday.

A circular published on Thursday in the capital of Guangdong Province is the first in China to put village officials under the same regime on the overseas travel as government workers.

Officials on China's directly elected village committees are not government employees and the new rules come in response to public outcry over cases of village officials fleeing the country to escape justice, said Mei Heqing, spokesman for the city disciplinary authority.

The rules require all village officials to register with the police, submit their passports and get approval from higher authorities before they can set off overseas, Mei said.