Transparent spending

The disclosure of public spending on government cars, overseas trips and official banquets is the first step toward cutting the waste of taxpayers' money and realizing clean and honest governance.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the State Council decided that the budget of the central government for such expenditures would be disclosed in June and reaffirmed the government's commitment to cutting the spending in these three areas.

The message is that the central government knows that it must scratch where it itches when it really wants to convince the people that it is indeed serving their interests.

For years, people have been guessing and making estimates of how much money governments at all levels spend each year on overseas trips and official banquets and the cars used by officials.

There are various figures, but all of them are large.

Some estimates put the total amount of money governments spend in the three areas at 900 billion yuan (97.3 billion euros) a year, that represents about 30 percent of total government expenditure.

These guesses and estimates have aroused the public's anger against the waste of taxpayers' money by government officials. And the opaqueness of such spending has only helped add to citizen's suspicions and grievances.

The Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and central government departments initiated a campaign to stop overseas trips by government officials at public expense in 2008. The following year there was a 49 percent reduction in the number of overseas trips made by government officials and the money saved totaled 1.6 billion yuan.

This suggests that there is a lot of room to cut government expenditure in the three areas and the public has more than enough reason to harbor grievances against the waste of taxpayer's money by government officials.

If such expenditures were to continue to remain in the dark, the frequent remarks by government leaders that people have the right to supervise government work would be seen as lip service and empty talk.

The State Council's regulations on the disclosure of government information, which took effect in 2008, require that the government let people know what they have the right to know, and they have the right to know where taxpayer's money is going.

Disclosing such figures will not just dispel people's suspicions and appease their grievances but also make it possible for people to realize their right to supervise the government.

By comparing the expenditures of one year with those of another, people will get to know whether the government has cut such expenditures. It will put pressure on the government to reduce unnecessary spending.

This serves as a signal that the central government is willing to receive people's supervision and cut expenditures in these areas.

Hopefully, local governments will follow suit.