Spending goes on as officials party in secret
Source: Agencies |
May 2, 2013, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Some government officials have been holding secret sauna parties and hiding their alcohol in plastic water bottles as they seek to get around a crackdown on extravagance, a major Chinese newspaper said yesterday.
"Constant reports of saunas held at farmhouses" were evidence of a growing culture of "low key extravagance" that was damaging the anti-corruption campaign, the People's Daily, the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said.
China's new leaders have stressed austerity as they try to rein in extravagant feasts and luxury spending, with President Xi Jinping vowing to crack down on corruption among high and low ranking officials.
Xi has said the problem is so severe it could threaten the Party's survival.
The recent campaign has driven some officials away from expensive hotel restaurants, but has led others to hold covert feasts in private clubs or even government canteens, the People's Daily said on its front page.
Some officials have been filling mineral water bottles with expensive liquor and storing luxury cigarettes in boxes belonging to cheaper brands, the newspaper said.
"In some places the use of public money for eating and drinking has switched from high-end hotels to private venues and places of business ... which has become known as 'low-key luxury,'" the paper said.
Cases had come to light of "saunas in farmhouses" and "maotai being put in mineral water bottles," the paper said, in reference to the expensive spirit traditionally drunk at banquets.
"These ways of pulling the wool over people's eyes is typical of not following the Party's graft-busting instructions and not stopping what is banned," the commentary added.
This phenomenon has reminded the Party of the need to strictly enclose power "in the fence of supervision" and "the cage of regulation," it said. "Such a mechanism must be a long-lasting one, in order to make corruption not only detectable, but also impossible."
"Constant reports of saunas held at farmhouses" were evidence of a growing culture of "low key extravagance" that was damaging the anti-corruption campaign, the People's Daily, the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said.
China's new leaders have stressed austerity as they try to rein in extravagant feasts and luxury spending, with President Xi Jinping vowing to crack down on corruption among high and low ranking officials.
Xi has said the problem is so severe it could threaten the Party's survival.
The recent campaign has driven some officials away from expensive hotel restaurants, but has led others to hold covert feasts in private clubs or even government canteens, the People's Daily said on its front page.
Some officials have been filling mineral water bottles with expensive liquor and storing luxury cigarettes in boxes belonging to cheaper brands, the newspaper said.
"In some places the use of public money for eating and drinking has switched from high-end hotels to private venues and places of business ... which has become known as 'low-key luxury,'" the paper said.
Cases had come to light of "saunas in farmhouses" and "maotai being put in mineral water bottles," the paper said, in reference to the expensive spirit traditionally drunk at banquets.
"These ways of pulling the wool over people's eyes is typical of not following the Party's graft-busting instructions and not stopping what is banned," the commentary added.
This phenomenon has reminded the Party of the need to strictly enclose power "in the fence of supervision" and "the cage of regulation," it said. "Such a mechanism must be a long-lasting one, in order to make corruption not only detectable, but also impossible."
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