More than 200 senior Chinese officials were ordered to quit company jobs they held when they were working in the government, in a move meant to root out conflicts of interest and corruption.

The demand was made after the Communist Party's Organization Department passed a rule in October banning government and party officials from also holding outside jobs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

A department task force found that 40,700 officials - including 229 at the provincial or ministerial levels - had extra jobs.