Baimiao becomes China’s first town to make government accounts public

BEIJING - China’s remote Baimiao Township in Sichuan province has become the first in the country to make its accounts public.

The government published detailed accounts of its expenditures, including a 1.5-yuan purchase of a pad of writing paper, on its website. Rendered

“In order for power to operate in sunshine, financial expenditures must be made public,” China Daily quoted the Communist Party chief of the town, as saying.

There have been cases of local governments providing vague details of their expenditures at the requests of inquisitive citizens, no other government in China seems willing for transparency.

In October, the municipal government of Shanghai turned down a request for information on the grounds that government expenditures were “state secrets.”

It is expected that following the publishing of Baimiao’s accounts, government officials will be forced to cut down the waste of public money.

According to the paper, the move has helped local officials get rid of popular suspicions of corruption, and has boosted public confidence in them. (ANI)