Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

YAN YIMING, one of China's highest-profile lawyers, best known for his handling of cases of corporate fraud, has demanded the Beijing government open its books to the public and publish details of 2008 and 2009 budgets.

It's an unusually direct form of approach and could earn the ire of the Communist Party, which sees this kind of activism as a growing threat to its rule.