Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has declared victory after a 15-month-long austerity campaign that cut US$8.6 billion in public spending, state media said, as he pledged not to relent against official corruption.
The “mass line” initiative — a Maoist term for the need to align the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with the people — saw more than 160,000 “phantom” government employees removed and 74,000 party members punished for violating austerity rules, the Xinhua news agency said.
The completion of the drive was marked with a conference attended by all seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s most powerful body, and broadcast live to government officials and military officers, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported yesterday.
“The close of the campaign is not the end of good work styles,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
The Global Times said the initiative, which began in June last year, had targeted “undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.”
Xinhua said it led to a 25 percent reduction in official meetings, the retrieval of more than 100,000 excessive government vehicles and a 1.9 million reduction in the number of official documents circulated.
Since taking office last year, Xi has ordered an end to excessive gift-giving and banquets within the state sector, amid rising anger among the Chinese public at widespread official greed.
A related graft crackdown has led to a series of high-profile takedowns of party officials that have sent shockwaves through an elite who once did little to hide their prosperity.
The CCP yesterday said it has expelled Wan Qingliang (萬慶良), the former party head of the southern city of Guangzhou, over graft allegations. He was referred for criminal prosecution.
Xinhua said Wan is alleged to have abused his office, accepted huge bribes and frequented expensive private clubs in violation of party rules.
More than 74,000 party members have been punished for extravagance during the campaign that has radically reduced outward signs of spending on entertaining, buildings and vehicles.
News of the “mass line” campaign’s close comes less than two weeks ahead of a highly anticipated conclave known as the Fourth Plenum, at which party leaders will set policy goals and focus on the theme of “rule of law.”
The state-run China Daily newspaper ran an editorial yesterday praising the austerity drive and calling on Xi to continue the momentum.
However, it also said that “the more successful such thorough and forceful actions are, the more corrupt the Party and government appear to be.”
“With the fight going even further, sometimes a dozen or more corrupt elements in the same government department end up being investigated for abuse of power, as one rotten apple can spoil others in a barrel,” the paper wrote.
Despite “malicious” attempts to use such examples to smear the reputation of the party and government, “the leadership’s zero-tolerance to corruption will become increasingly obvious and welcomed by the public,” it added.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was