Public frowns on officials' commercial activities: Poll

By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-16 06:59

They frequent ribbon-cutting ceremonies, product promotion conferences, celebrations and other commercial events. And they often do so for a hefty - and illegal - fee.

A growing number of officials have been illegally accepting money for attending commercial events, a trend a July 2 Outlook Weekly report described as "an open secret".

A survey by the China Youth Daily published last week which covered 10,176 people in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions found at least 75 percent of respondents considered it corrupt of officials to accept such "appearance fees".

In addition, more than 48 percent respondents said they often see, or hear of, officials making such appearances.

Wuhan University political science major Yan Shuai, for one, believed appearance fees were no different from bribes.

Wu Jialu, a 25-year-old white-collar in Beijing, said officials should not attend such events "because they represent the image of our government".

However, Chen Hua, who works in a consulting firm on Beijing's Financial Street, finds no problem with the practice.

"Government officials are human, and they should be paid for their time and labor."

While many respondents disagreed with officials' acceptances of appearance fees, they understood why companies invited them to promotional events.

More than 70 percent of respondents agreed the government influence associated with officials is important to businesses, and 58.7 percent believed officials' appearances provided firms with effective advertising.

Liu Yide, a graduate student majoring in business management at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said: "There needs to be a clear boundary between politics and business in a mature market."

He said this was because the public would otherwise have reason to doubt officials would be fair in carrying out their duties.

Nearly half of the respondents agreed officials' engagement in commercial activities "severely damaged" the government's credibility, and more than 40 percent of those polled believed the government should strengthen relevant laws.

Professor Shang Chongsheng of Wuhan University's college of political science and law, said that although some relevant rules were in place, stronger mandates and administrative enforcement was needed to end such activities, the China Youth Daily reported.