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Chinese Advisors Appeal for Clampdown on Misuse of Government Money

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 06:00 CST

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Beijing, 6 March: Chinese political advisers have appealed for a clamp down on the misuse of government money as overspending is gobbling up too much tax payers' contribution.

Governments at all levels spent at least 1 trillion yuan (125bn US dollars) in dining and building grand offices in 2005, about 30 per cent of the 3.16-trillion-yuan national revenue, said Huang Wenzai, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body, citing media reports.

According to the National Audit Office, 290bn yuan (about 36.7bn US dollars) was lavished by government organs at all levels in 2005, about 10 per cent of the national fiscal income, Huang revealed in his proposal to the ongoing CPPCC session, saying the figure would be more astonishing taking into account the improperly used sum.

In his proposal, the adviser suggested the enactment of a supervision law on government spending, and political, administrative or even criminal punishment on officials who waste public funds.

The auditing departments subordinate to the government should be affiliated to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, Huang proposed, and a special NPC auditing commission should be set up to monitor the expenditure of public funds.

He also called for the launch of a tax payers' day, when tax users are obliged to respond to the inquiries by the payers. The public should be always welcome to report to the auditing commission on any extravagance and waste case.

Ren Yuling, another adviser attending the session, also expressed serious concern about China's hiking spending on administrative affairs.

The volume of administrative expenditure has increased by 87 times since 1978, when China adopted the reform and opening-up policy, according to Ren's proposal on maintaining hard working and frugality among members of the Chinese Communist Party.

The volume, growing at an annual rate of 23 per cent in recent years, accounted for about 19 per cent of the national fiscal expenditure in 2003, much higher than the 9.9 per cent in the United States and 2.38 per cent in Japan, according to Ren's report.

The adviser called for curtailing administrative spending budget, reducing unnecessary official conferences and forums, confining financial privileges of senior leaders, and reinforcing fiscal supervision.

"Government and party organs should take the lead in saving money for better financing the development of the health care mechanism, education and rural regions," Ren said.

"Legal actions should also be adopted to control rampant food waste, which runs counter to the drive of building a resources- saving society initiated by the Chinese leadership," said Yu Xiaowen, a CPPCC National Committee member from Shaanxi Province in Northwest China.

Yu put forward proposals on reining in food waste in restaurants, citing the statistics that Shaanxi wastes about 5,000 tons of food every day, and Shanghai throws away 1,100 tons a day.

In the southern province of Hainan, food waste is equal to 1.3bn yuan (165m US dollars) in 2004, approximately the same cost of 650 school buildings and the amount of tuition fee for 32,500 needy undergraduates.

Yu proposed the enactment of an anti-squander law, which includes measures of imposing tax on food waste, reducing excessive food packing, and encouraging people to take away leftovers.

The adviser also called for the crackdown on dining with government money and a campaign in restaurants to persuade customers not to over order and to take their leftovers home.

A recent survey revealed that 81 per cent of Chinese diners cannot finish all their food and 28 per cent never take their leftovers home.

China is resolved to manage expenses and be economical by efforts including holding down expenses for meetings, receptions and official car use, and taking effective measures to control the number of unnecessary forums, celebrations, and international conferences, according to a report on the draft budget for 2006 distributed by the Ministry of Finance at the ongoing NPC annual session.

"We will promote performance evaluations, oppose waste, extravagance and frivolous squandering of funds, and promote the building of an economical society," according to the report, which is being examined by legislators.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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