In a further move to promote openness and transparency, the Chinese government is planning to extend the requirement for government departments to make public their sangong expenditures to lower levels of government.

The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council issued a draft regulation on Monday, stipulating governments at the county level or above should include sangong expenditures - government spending on overseas visits, the purchase and maintenance of government vehicles and government-sponsored receptions - in the management of their annual budgets and regularly make these expenditures public.

According to the draft regulation, governments should abide by the principle of austerity when laying down their annual budgets and strictly control their sangong expenditures. Relevant government agencies should neither misappropriate other budgetary funds nor receive donations from enterprises and affiliated organizations for these expenditures, both of which have led to malpractices in the past. Punishments will be meted out to those involved in excessive spending.

Government spending on sangong has long been viewed by the public as a squandering of taxpayers' money and, due to the lack of openness and transparency, an area prone to corruption.

Earlier this year, the State Council published its sangong expenditure figures for 2010 and ordered 98 ministries and ministry-level government agencies to follow suit in response to a public outcry for more transparent sangong spending.

But although the majority of State departments have made public their figures as demanded, most of these figures are tucked away among assorted and separate budgetary items. The country's current system does not obligate governments to include separate sangong expenditure figures in their budgets, which makes it difficult for the public to get a grip on the expenditures in a lengthy and jargon-worded budget report.

The establishment of a uniform and readable budget detailing sangong spending would be a key step toward satisfying the public's right to know how their money is being spent and will effectively prevent the "hide-and-seek" games that are employed by some government agencies.

As a way to commit governments to use sangong expenditures in a more reasonable way, the country should make it a binding obligation for them to provide a more detailed list of their spending on these items in their budgets. This would further facilitate non-government supervision of government spending.

(China Daily 11/23/2011 page8)