Suitable for publication
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We must confess to having mixed feelings about the Ministry of Science and Technology's (MOST) information about its san gong expenses, or expenses to finance overseas trips, vehicles procurement and maintenance, as well as official receptions, in its 2011 budgetary report.
On the one hand, this is a precious step toward greater transparency, even more so because the ministry has been the first of all the central government agencies to share with us any information about those expenses.
Responding to loud calls at the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for release of such information, the Ministry of Finance promised to publish the san gong expenses of all central government departments.
The Ministry of Finance was indeed the first to make public its 2011 budgetary plan. And the report indeed included more specifics than in 2010. Yet many budgetary items deemed "unsuitable for publication" had been concealed in "other expenditures". There were no specifics in the reports of the State Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Land and Resources, either.
MOST is obviously one step ahead in this regard. For that, it is due some praise.
But, on the other hand, what is available at this point is far from enough for sensible oversight. We are given a crude total that they want to spend 40.19 million yuan ($6.15 million) on those three specific items. We need a further breakdown to see how the money will be used. The State Council decided on March 23 to further reduce san gong expenses, and release a corresponding budgetary report in June. We hope that one will not be as general as MOST's.
Since all government institutions have the obligation to disclose information, and san gong expenses have attracted serious public concern for their association with corruption and waste in government offices, their account books must be brought into the light for public scrutiny. Government offices should not be allowed to decide for themselves what items are "unsuitable for publication".
In the absence of the State Council report on san gong expenses of all central government departments, any statement about overall administrative costs is guesswork. From what MOST has shared with us, however, we can see people's concerns about high administrative costs are not groundless.
The 40 million yuan represents only part of MOST's operational costs. There are dozens of ministry-level institutions under the State Council.
The city of Beijing has said there are more than 60,000 vehicles owned and operated by local Communist Party and government organizations as well as major non-administrative institutions affiliated to the municipal government. That figure immediately raised concern, we are curious how many automobiles on the streets of Beijing are financed by the central government.
And this is not "unsuitable for publication".
