It's true that from time to time the very distinguished host of this exemplary blog, er, that's me, by the way, issues forth a load of old cobblers. It's very rare, never happens more than, well, say, every other day but still the good parts are really-really good, honestly! One of them has been my frequent assertions over the years that all Chinese economic data should not be taken with a pinch of salt but with the entire contents of the salt mine!
Today, I have received confirmation of my scepticism from a piece over at Zero Hedge which originated at Bloomberg News:
City and county governments in the north-western region [of Liaoning] committed fiscal data fraud in the period [2011-2014], Governor Chen Qiufa said at a meeting with provincial lawmakers Tuesday, according to state-run People’s Daily. Fiscal revenues were inflated by at least 20 percent, and some other economic data were also false, the paper said, without specifying categories.
Chen said the data were made up because officials wanted to advance their careers. The fraud misled the central government’s judgment of Liaoning’s economic status, he said, citing a report from the National Audit Office in 2016.
The city of Shenyang in Liaoning province of China. Photographer: Doug Kanter/Bloomberg
One question instantly leaps to mind - who knows the Chinese for 'whodathunkit'? A witty commenter at Zero Hedge suggested the news item should be re-titled as "Wi Kuk Buks". In further reports at Bloomberg:
Liaoning has seen an unprecedented purge of more than 500 deputies from its legislature. The deputies were implicated in vote buying and bribery in the first provincial-level case of its kind in the Communist Party’s almost seven-decade rule, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Former provincial party chief Wang Min, who led Liaoning from 2009 until 2015, was earlier expelled following corruption allegations by China’s top anti-graft watchdog.
Meanwhile, of course, the People's Government of the People's Republic of China carries on gassing to death with smog, er, the People, actually!
Politicians are the same everywhere I guess. "I do believe politicians would be far more ready to resign office if they did not feel that their doing so would give such infinite pleasure to their adversaries"...Lord Salisbury,1889.
Posted by: Whitewall | Wednesday, 18 January 2017 at 18:11
Excellent quote, that one, Whiters.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 18 January 2017 at 19:32
ditto
Posted by: TheBigHenry | Thursday, 19 January 2017 at 07:41
And not just China. How is it that in August GDP in countries that shut down for the entire month like France, Spain, Italy, Portugal goes up as it has done for many years now . Most industrial cities are deserted and the population is on the beach that is those that have yet to leave and find work in the UK !
Posted by: Espatriato | Thursday, 19 January 2017 at 08:00
G'day Cousins.
One day to go.
Shalom TBH
Posted by: AussieD | Thursday, 19 January 2017 at 11:02
One more day of jaw dropping betrayal and treachery. The Red bastard can't get gone soon enough.
Posted by: Whitewall | Thursday, 19 January 2017 at 11:57
So Mr. Wang (or is it Mr. Lin?) upset some important personage, and this was the handy stick to beat him with.
Of course this sort of thing is endemic in planned economies, and for good reason; would YOU put your neck on the line for the sake of honesty when all around is what the Soviets used to call "Tukhta"?
Posted by: Andrew Duffin | Thursday, 19 January 2017 at 12:18