Public office and money making can’t go together: Li
18 March 2013 7:24 AM IST
Sending a stern message to the ruling Communist Party officials, China’s new premier Li Keqiang on Sunday warned that public offices and money making cannot go together and vowed to open his government for supervision to restore peoples’ confidence. Addressing his first press conference after assuming office, Premier Li announced that no new offices, halls or official guest houses would be constructed during his tenure and his government is willing to accept supervision from the society and media for clean governance.
‘If one takes public office, he or she should cut off any expectation for getting rich,’ Li said apparently referring to the allegations of corruption by top officials of the ruling CPC.
Several officials including his predecessor, Wen Jiabao, were accused of amassing large scale assets. The scale of corruption prompted new President Xi Jinping to warn that graft threatened CPC hold on the country.
‘Pursuing government office and making money have been ‘two separate lanes’ since the ancient times. Only by being upright one himself, can he then asks others to be upright,’ Li quoted a Chinese adage as saying.
‘We are willing to accept supervision from the whole society and media,’ he said and urged a battle against corruption, which he described as ‘incompatible to reputation of the government, like fire to water,’ he added. He said a sound mechanism will be established to ensure t hat officials dare not and are unable to practise corruption and those corrupt will be punished by the law.
Li also promised to win trust from the people and bring benefits to them by practising frugality in government spending. ‘Within my tenure, the government will not use public coffer to construct new offices, halls or guest houses for the government use,’ Li said.
He ensured that the number of government employees, spending on official hospitality, overseas trips for official purposes and purchases of official vehicles will be reduced. The central government will set an example and governments at all levels must follow suit, he said. ‘If the people are to live a good life, their government must be put on a tight budget,’ Li stressed.
He cited a recent report to show that the central fiscal revenues increased by only 1.6 per cent from January to February.
‘In the future, you might not see big growth of fiscal revenues in China,’ the premier said. Li also said spending on improvement of people’s livelihood is a must for the government and will surely increase.‘We have to cut spending on government operations,’ he said. Li also promised to tackle pollution and food safety problems with ‘iron fist and firm resolution.’
PRESIDENT XI CALLS FOR ‘GREAT RENAISSANCE’
China’s new President Xi Jinping will fight for a ‘great renaissance of the Chinese nation’, he said on Sunday as the world’s most populous country completed its once-in-a-decade power transition. In his first speech as head of state, Xi called for ‘the continued realisation of the great renaissance of the Chinese nation and the Chinese dream’, laying out a vision of a stronger military and ever-higher living standards.
Analysts said Xi’s concept of a ‘great renaissance’ was a slogan designed to have broad appeal, without any firm commitments to specific reforms. Xi has close ties to China’s expanding military, which put its first aircraft carrier into service last year, and he called for the armed forces to strengthen their ability to ‘win battles”.
Beijing is embroiled in a bitter territorial row with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, and with neighbouring nations over claims to the South China Sea. Tensions with the US have increased over reports of army-organised hacking. Newly appointed Premier Li Keqiang sought to play down such conflicts in a press conference, saying that Beijing would not ‘seek hegemony’as it became stronger and denying allegations that China engages in hacking.
Li, now in charge of the day-to-day running of the government, said ‘maintaining sustainable economic growth,’ with an annual GDP increase of around 7.5 percent over the coming decade, would be his administration’s top priority.
LI REJECTS HACKING ACCUSATION
China’s new premier Li Keqiang rejected allegations from the US and other nations of carrying out ‘state sponsored’ cyber attacks, calling it ‘presumption of guilt.’ Li said hacker attacks in the cyber space is a worldwide problem and China itself is one of the major targets of such attacks. ‘China does not support but indeed oppose such attacks,’ he said. Li made the remark in response to a question at a press conference held after the annual session of China’s top legislature closed this morning. ‘We should not make groundless accusations against each other and spend more time doing practical things that will contribute to cyber security,’ Li said. US President Barack Obama last week said that some cyber attacks on US firms and infrastructure originating in China were ‘state sponsored’. Also, a US congressional report last year named China as ‘the most threatening actor in cyberspace’. Recent US reports alleged that China’s People’s Liberation Army detachment in Shanghai was directly involved in mass cyber attacks.
‘If one takes public office, he or she should cut off any expectation for getting rich,’ Li said apparently referring to the allegations of corruption by top officials of the ruling CPC.
Several officials including his predecessor, Wen Jiabao, were accused of amassing large scale assets. The scale of corruption prompted new President Xi Jinping to warn that graft threatened CPC hold on the country.
‘Pursuing government office and making money have been ‘two separate lanes’ since the ancient times. Only by being upright one himself, can he then asks others to be upright,’ Li quoted a Chinese adage as saying.
‘We are willing to accept supervision from the whole society and media,’ he said and urged a battle against corruption, which he described as ‘incompatible to reputation of the government, like fire to water,’ he added. He said a sound mechanism will be established to ensure t hat officials dare not and are unable to practise corruption and those corrupt will be punished by the law.
Li also promised to win trust from the people and bring benefits to them by practising frugality in government spending. ‘Within my tenure, the government will not use public coffer to construct new offices, halls or guest houses for the government use,’ Li said.
He ensured that the number of government employees, spending on official hospitality, overseas trips for official purposes and purchases of official vehicles will be reduced. The central government will set an example and governments at all levels must follow suit, he said. ‘If the people are to live a good life, their government must be put on a tight budget,’ Li stressed.
He cited a recent report to show that the central fiscal revenues increased by only 1.6 per cent from January to February.
‘In the future, you might not see big growth of fiscal revenues in China,’ the premier said. Li also said spending on improvement of people’s livelihood is a must for the government and will surely increase.‘We have to cut spending on government operations,’ he said. Li also promised to tackle pollution and food safety problems with ‘iron fist and firm resolution.’
PRESIDENT XI CALLS FOR ‘GREAT RENAISSANCE’
China’s new President Xi Jinping will fight for a ‘great renaissance of the Chinese nation’, he said on Sunday as the world’s most populous country completed its once-in-a-decade power transition. In his first speech as head of state, Xi called for ‘the continued realisation of the great renaissance of the Chinese nation and the Chinese dream’, laying out a vision of a stronger military and ever-higher living standards.
Analysts said Xi’s concept of a ‘great renaissance’ was a slogan designed to have broad appeal, without any firm commitments to specific reforms. Xi has close ties to China’s expanding military, which put its first aircraft carrier into service last year, and he called for the armed forces to strengthen their ability to ‘win battles”.
Beijing is embroiled in a bitter territorial row with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, and with neighbouring nations over claims to the South China Sea. Tensions with the US have increased over reports of army-organised hacking. Newly appointed Premier Li Keqiang sought to play down such conflicts in a press conference, saying that Beijing would not ‘seek hegemony’as it became stronger and denying allegations that China engages in hacking.
Li, now in charge of the day-to-day running of the government, said ‘maintaining sustainable economic growth,’ with an annual GDP increase of around 7.5 percent over the coming decade, would be his administration’s top priority.
LI REJECTS HACKING ACCUSATION
China’s new premier Li Keqiang rejected allegations from the US and other nations of carrying out ‘state sponsored’ cyber attacks, calling it ‘presumption of guilt.’ Li said hacker attacks in the cyber space is a worldwide problem and China itself is one of the major targets of such attacks. ‘China does not support but indeed oppose such attacks,’ he said. Li made the remark in response to a question at a press conference held after the annual session of China’s top legislature closed this morning. ‘We should not make groundless accusations against each other and spend more time doing practical things that will contribute to cyber security,’ Li said. US President Barack Obama last week said that some cyber attacks on US firms and infrastructure originating in China were ‘state sponsored’. Also, a US congressional report last year named China as ‘the most threatening actor in cyberspace’. Recent US reports alleged that China’s People’s Liberation Army detachment in Shanghai was directly involved in mass cyber attacks.
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