Vibrant Chinese dining culture suffers from heavy-handed austerity control: state media
Advertisement
In a commentary published on its website on Tuesday night, the party mouthpiece said that while curbing corruption and extravagance was necessary for the austerity campaign, it should not come at the expense of a citizen's daily life or local economies.
'When implementing, some localities have 'layered on restrictions' – equating 'prohibiting illegal dining and drinking' simply with 'banning all eating and drinking',' the commentary said, referring to a common situation in China in which higher authorities impose additional or even stricter requirements at every level, leading to excessive or overzealous implementation.
02:55
US beef off the menu as trade war hits Beijing's American-style restaurants
US beef off the menu as trade war hits Beijing's American-style restaurants
'This behaviour is also a form of lazy governance and a variant of formalism, causing businesses to lose customers and dimming the vibrancy of people's everyday lives,' it said.
Beijing launched an
austerity push in March in an effort to improve the ruling party's image, combat corruption and cut wasteful spending. It urged officials to 'get used to belt-tightening' and show 'strict diligence and thrift'.
New measures announced last month included
20 major changes related to official work meals, the use of government cars, inspection tours and other spending. For instance, expensive dishes, cigarettes and alcohol are banned at work meals, and extravagant decorations for official reception venues are prohibited.
Advertisement
In recent weeks Beijing has sent eight central guidance teams to reinforce the message during inspection tours around the country. The graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection began releasing details of occasions of excessive drinking by officials – including some who died from consuming too much alcohol – as a warning.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping tipped to meet ahead of or during Apec summit in South Korea
This year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea is probably the best opportunity for Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to meet in person this year, multiple sources have said. They said Trump might visit China before going to the Apec summit between October 30 and November 1, or he could meet his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Apec event. According to South Korean media reports, Xi plans to attend the event in Gyeongju, but Trump's participation is yet to be confirmed. Earlier this month Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had their first face-to-face meeting – a potentially important step towards the two presidents meeting. Meanwhile, in a phone call last month, Xi invited Trump and his wife to visit China, an invitation the US president reciprocated. Rubio told reporters after meeting Wang that there was a 'strong desire on both sides' for a meeting between the two presidents. US-China relations have fluctuated since Trump returned to the White House in late January and threatened heavy tariffs of up to 145 per cent on Chinese goods. Since then, however, both sides have worked to stabilise relations, agreeing on a preliminary trade deal that eases China's rare-earth export restrictions and US technology trade barriers.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
The future of surveillance tech is already here – in the US, not China
Out of story ideas about China? One default topic for Western hacks is to warn against the repressive nature of China's pervasive 'hi-tech' public surveillance. But a recent one in The New York Times takes the cake. Forgive the long quote, but it helps to fill up column space. It's also necessary to show the person's pathos or value system. I don't know. But here goes: 'I heard some surprising refrains on my recent travels through China. 'Leave your bags here,' a Chinese acquaintance or tour guide would suggest when I ducked off the streets into a public bathroom. 'Don't worry,' they'd say and shrug when I temporarily lost sight of my young son in the crowds. 'The explanation always followed: 'Nobody will do anything,' they'd say knowingly. Or: 'There's no crime.' And then, always: 'There are so many cameras!' I couldn't imagine such blasé faith in public safety back when I last lived in China, in 2013, but on this visit it was true: Cameras gawked from poles, flashed as we drove through intersections, lingered on faces as we passed through stations or shops.' The writer, an American, is troubled. 'I felt that I'd gotten a taste of our own American future,' she wrote. 'Wasn't this, after all, the logical endpoint of an evolution already under way in America?' Oh dear! In fact, high-resolution public security cameras with facial recognition features are so yesterday's tech. The Times article is titled, 'Can we see our future in China's cameras?' Well, no, lady, you want to see your future, go back to your own country.
South China Morning Post
9 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
As US and Europe cut aid budgets, China's star is on the rise in Southeast Asia, report says
China's role as Southeast Asia's largest infrastructure financier is increasing its regional influence at a time when the United States and the European Union are slashing their foreign aid budgets, a new report by an Australian think tank said. With the Trump administration in the United States scrapping about US$60 billion in aid and European countries pulling back more than US$25 billion, 'the centre of gravity' in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape 'looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing, but also Tokyo and Seoul', the Lowy Institute report, which was released today, said. 'China is the single largest partner on infrastructure financing in Southeast Asia, but traditional donors combined still outspend it,' the report's lead authors, Alexandre Dayant, Grace Stanhope and Roland Rajah, wrote. 'As Western aid declines and China recalibrates its strategy, Beijing is well positioned to regain dominance.' Southeast Asia's traditional partners include countries such as the US and Australia, and international organisations such as the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. With the US expected to cut its foreign assistance by 83 per cent this year, the retrenchment of funds from Europe and tariff uncertainties undermining trade ties between the US and other countries, China is enhancing its influence in the region through infrastructure connections. Recent examples include work on high-speed railway links with Vietnam and Thailand. China International Development Cooperation Agency spokesman Li Ming told a news conference in March that China's 'principles related to foreign aid, including non-interference in internal affairs, no political strings attached and no empty promises made, will not change'. 'A major country should act like a major country by shouldering its due international obligations and fulfilling its responsibilities, rather than renege on its promises, be mercenary or bullying,' he said.
