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Liaison offices ordered to close
By Yan Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-30 08:07
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The government on Friday officially announced its plan to close down thousands of local government liaison offices in Beijing and strengthen supervision to cut costs and uproot corruption.
Counties, local government departments, and development zones have been ordered to close liaison offices in the capital within six months, according to a circular issued by the General Office of the State Council, China's cabinet.
As of 2006, Beijing has 50 liaison offices representing China's provinces and special economic zones, 295 representing major cities, 146 representing local government departments and 436 representing counties, figures from the administration showed.
Provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and special economic zones could retain their liaison offices in Beijing, while established city-level liaison offices could remain open only after getting approvals from the provincial governments, according to the circular.
However, those liaison offices that will be permitted to stay open will be deprived of the financial perks that allow them to run independently, the circular says.
If necessary, the State Council's Government Offices Administration will also invite national auditors to inspect the financial status of the offices, notice said.
Liaison offices in the capital have long been seen as a hotbed for corruption, despite their initial purpose to serve as a bridge between the central government and various regions of the country.
Earlier media reports have disclosed that most of Beijing's liaison offices have been involved in businesses, such as property investment and hotel management. Loopholes in financial regulations have prompted embezzlement and bribery.
Some local government liaison officials were even implicated in serious corruption cases.
In 2002, these offices spent as much as 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) in property investments and daily expenses, the Outlook magazine, a weekly affiliated with the Xinhua news agency, reported. Their assets surpassed 10 billion yuan in 2001.
"Auditing by national auditors will help rein in corruption at these offices," Ren Jianming, director of the anti-corruption and governance research center of Tsinghua University, told China Daily.
The offices are required to curb spending for receptions of officials or for business purposes, according to the order.
In addition, province-level liaison offices have been assigned the task of supervising the subordinate offices.
A total of 927 such offices representing regional governments opened in Beijing as of the end of 2006, according to the administration.
The number has soared to more than 10,000 now, taking into account all offices set up by regional governments, non-government organizations and enterprises of every level, the Outlook magazine reported last Sunday.
Xinhua contributed to the story
