On September 28, 2016, a super typhoon landed in Fujian and caused flooding. The streets of Xiamen City were flooded. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
[The Epoch Times, December 22, 2023](Epoch Times reporter Li Jing reported) Recently, a “Notice on Strengthening Budget Management and Adhering to Tight Living” issued by the Xiamen Municipal Government in Fujian Province has been widely circulated on the Internet. The notice shows that in addition to local construction achievements and image projects, urban road construction that “repairs and digs, digs and repairs” may also be suspended.
According to documents posted online, the General Office of the Xiamen Municipal Government admitted in a notice that since the beginning of this year, Xiamen’s economic operations have remained uncertain, and the contradiction between fiscal revenue and expenditure has been very prominent.
The Xiamen Municipal Government stipulates “key expenditures”, “development expenditures”, “general expenditures” and “excessive advancement and waste” of official agencies. The authorities have focused on requiring the city’s district governments, municipal committees, offices and bureaus, development zone management committees, major area headquarters, and municipal state-owned enterprises to take the lead in “living a tight life.”
Specific measures include: reducing departmental special business expenses and shared funds by 10% and 20% respectively in 2024; strictly controlling general expenditures such as “three official expenses”; and strictly prohibiting surprise spending at the end of the year; without approval of the municipal party committee or city government. Districts and departments are not allowed to increase long-term non-staff personnel, increase funding standards, etc. in any form.
In addition, the document also requires that illegal construction of buildings and halls is strictly prohibited; political achievement projects and image projects are strictly prohibited; newly built and expanded urban roads are not allowed to be excavated within 5 years after they are put into use, and overhauled urban roads are not allowed to be excavated within 3 years after completion.
The above-mentioned documents show that the notice was issued by the Xiamen Municipal Government Office on December 5, 2023. After the document was reposted by many netizens, it sparked heated discussions among netizens.
Many netizens commented: “When the tide receded, I realized that they were the ones who had been swimming naked. The city roads have been repaired, dug, repaired, dug, dug, repaired. Maybe it will stop for a while.”
“Actually, not just Xiamen, governments across the country have significantly reduced next year’s budgets, but they have not issued any documents.” “These normal standards have only been put forward now, and I feel there is still room for reduction.”
Some netizens said: “When the government (government) has difficulty in paying wages, open source cannot be achieved, and it is inevitable to require all levels to cut off the flow. Of course, the government’s banner of tightening life is for the welfare of the people.”
In fact, the “Xiamen Daily” published the “Xiamen Municipal Government Work Report” in January this year. In the report, Xiamen Mayor Huang Wenhui twice mentioned the need to implement the Beijing authorities’ request for “the government to live a tight life” and proposed that all parties in Xiamen Government departments must “vigorously reduce non-urgent and non-rigid expenditures.”
As early as 2019, the Chinese Communist authorities have issued multiple notices requiring governments at all levels to “tighten their belts” and be prepared to “live a tight life.” This year is the second year of the Sino-US trade war, and it is also the most intense year between the two sides.
In October 2022, when the authorities reported on the “three public expenditures” of the central and local governments, they mentioned “tight living” eight times.
The CCP’s three-year strict epidemic blockade policy has had a huge impact on the Chinese economy. At the same time, according to the CCP’s local government annual budget report, China’s provinces spent at least 352 billion yuan on epidemic prevention and control alone in 2022. To make matters worse, the Chinese Communist authorities have implemented tax reduction policies to stimulate the economy, which has reduced local government fiscal revenue.
The central government’s crackdown on real estate developers has caused a real estate crisis sweeping the country, which has also hit local government revenue.
Liu Kun, the Minister of Finance of the Communist Party of China, publicly stated in March that he “will not waver in the tightening of Party and government agencies.” He also emphasized that “the government’s tightening of measures is not a short-term response, but a policy that should be adhered to in the long term.”
Due to financial constraints, Zhejiang, Shenzhen and other provinces and cities issued notices requiring government departments at all levels to “live a tight life”, and many local government agencies and institutions began to clear out non-staff personnel.
Editor in charge: Hu Yulong#
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2023-12-21 22:58:50
