Local officials' unwillingness to leave comfort zones holding back reform

AS THE THIRD-LARGEST provincial economy, Shandong province's gross domestic product was 7.27 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion) last year, an increase of 7.4 percent on 2016 and markedly higher than the national average of 6.9 percent. The per capita GDP in the province reached 72,851 yuan, exceeding the benchmark of wealthy nations. Beijing News comments:

What made the Shandong government's announcement national headlines was the comments by Liu Jiayi, the Shandong Party chief, about the otherwise dazzling statistics at a news conference in Jinan, the provincial capital, on Thursday.

The mayors and county heads, who would on past experience have been expecting praise for their performance were instead greeted with criticism from Liu, who worked in the National Audit Office for nearly 30 years before he took current post in March last year.