Beijing's liaison offices swept up by closures

Authorities are racing to close down nearly 600 liaison offices representing regional governments in Beijing, a senior official said yesterday in an online interview.

Shang Xiaoting, deputy director of the Government Offices Administration of the State Council, made the remarks after the administration in mid-January issued a circular to step up regulation of the offices.

Earlier media reports had accused the offices of their corruption-prone roles in lobbying central government departments, with a number of poorly supervised offices reportedly acting like financial "black holes" that waste and embezzle public funds.