BEIJING - China's governmental budgets and spending have for the past six
decades remained classified and inaccessible to the general public. This may be
about to change.
In January, in what some are calling China's first case of "naked government",
Baimiao, a small town in the southern province of Sichuan, released its budget
to the public. The details were not pretty: they showed that 65% of local
government spending had gone to accommodating and entertaining officials.
Then, in March, Guangdong, the province closest to Hong Kong and the
manufacturing heartland of China, announced that it would be publicizing its
financial budget for this year. This is the first
time that a provincial-level administration has decided to release these
records since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.
Many feel that this could be the beginning of greater government transparency
in China.
"In the past this [greater transparency] has been a topic that nobody was
allowed to talk about, but at least now we can talk about it in the open and
hope for a change," Li Chengyan, a professor at Peking University's School of
Government, told IPS.
"Although it is just a beginning, I believe we will see a chain effect; other
local governments will have to make their budget transparent under pressure
from the public," Li said.
Within three days of Baimiao releasing its one-month budget, the news had
reached hundreds of thousands of Chinese Internet users. Rather than the high
amount of spending on entertainment resulting in a public backlash, however,
the reception was generally kind - people were just happy to know how their
taxpayers' money was being spent.
"It does not matter how much you spend on entertaining, as long as all the
numbers are transparent," wrote one commentator on the popular online Chinese
bulletin board Tianya. Another said: "At least this is a step forward. But for
a small village like Baimiao, its one month's expenses are really too high."
China rated at just 14 out of 100 for transparency of its public budget in a
2008 report by the International Budget Partnership, a global organization that
aims to help promote greater government transparency. Britain and the United
States topped the list with 88 and 82 respectively.
"Open budgets are empowering. They allow people to be the judge of whether or
not their government officials are good stewards of public funds," IBP director
Warren Krafchik said at the time of the report's release.
Corruption and extravagant spending among government officials has become an
increasing concern for China's general population.
A campaign to clean up the Chongqing province has seen the arrest of at least
50 government officials, including the chief of Chongqing's justice department,
Wen Qiang. In the process, the local party secretary, Bo Xilai, has become a
hero for many and an outside bet for high office in two years' time when the
top leadership in China changes.
"I hope there is an honest and upright official like Bo Xilai in every
province, municipality, city, district, town and village of China," wrote one
online commentator.
Greater budget transparency is seen as one of the ways to limit opportunities
for corruption. "From what some of the corrupt politicians wrote in their
confessions, we can tell that non-transparent government spending is the major
factor that makes corruption possible," said Peking University's Li. "There is
no one to monitor them."
Greater transparency is not just about reducing the instances of corruption,
however, but also about reining in excessive spending.
"The money that's been taken by corrupt politicians is only a small amount of
the bigger picture," said Zhang Ming, a professor at the political science
department of Renmin University of China. "More has been wasted by government
officials who entertain, travel and consume at the state's expense."
Even in China's smallest towns, citizens see their local officials eating
lavish banquets, driving fancy cars and spending taxpayers' money freely. The
high spending in Baimiao on entertainment and accommodation was not a surprise
to many. Li predicts that in some cities and towns, these expenses could be as
high as 70% to 80% of their budgets.
The hope is that the drive toward greater transparency will spread across
China, though many are cautious about the overall effect of any improved
accountability.
Last month, senior government official Gao Qiang, vice chairman of the National
People's Congress (NPC) Financial and Economic Affairs Committee and director
of the budgetary affairs commission of the NPC Standing Committee, announced
that the country's overall Budget Law could be revised in August. The issue of
the public release of government budgets is one of the things expected to be
addressed.
But Gao warned that even after these possible changes, it would still be
difficult for the general public to find out how much officials spend on
luxuries, since budgets in China do not require that level of detail and
specification.
While governments may be becoming more open with their records, understanding
what these documents say and reading between the lines are skills that the
Chinese public is unpracticed in.
"Without a proper supervising institution, we, the masses, won't be able to
read the budgets, and won't be able to tell whether the numbers are real,"
Zhang said.
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