Call for clampdown on official privileges

An expert with a Party think tank has lambasted privileges for officials and called for more breakthroughs in reform.

"We should give high praise to China's achievement in improving people's livelihoods, especially the development of the social security system in past 10 years, but we clearly need to pay attention to the problems in this area and we need further reform," said Yu Keping, deputy director of the Compilation and Translation Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Yu's remarks were reported by the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post on Monday.

Yu said the unfairness is a major factor influencing people's feelings about the government's credibility and is a threat to the country's long-term stability.

The most dangerous thing in this "unfairness" was not only related to income and corruption, but the special privileges enjoyed by some officials.

The privileges are part of a kind of systematic corruption, and gives officials access to excessive social welfare in housing, healthcare and retirement, as well as access to the huge amount of money spent on public receptions, vehicles and overseas trips.

Yu said the privileges are a threat to the government's credibility, but in recent years the government has become stricter in clamping down on privileges. For example, the Beijing government has introduced regulations to curb the public vehicle problem.

The focus of the reform has moved from the economic arena to social and political arenas, and the reform will become arduous, he said.

Yu proposed that the development of democracy within the Party and grassroots democracy should be two key platforms for China's political reform.

jinhaixing@chinadaily.com.cn