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Ban Moutai at official banquets, says deputy

China Daily, January 17, 2012

• Several other deputies reportedly echoed Shen, but the proposal stirred disagreements as well.

  "So many other things are more expensive than Moutai, such as the French wine brand Lafite. Shall we ban them all?" said a netizen going by the moniker Mr Abalone on Sina.com, a leading Chinese news website. "What the government should do is set a quota for per capita consumption at the government banquet."

  Zhu Lijia, professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the problem is not what wine or what dishes should be consumed during official banquets. What matters is the trend of official banquets becoming ever more luxurious.

  "The traditional discipline says receptions of Party or government organs should stay simple, and a dinner should not exceed four courses and one soup. But there is no clear legislation on specific standards of official receptions. It leaves room for luxury consumption, which has triggered a growing public outcry," Zhu said.

  "Regulating the government banquets by law is necessary, but prohibiting drinking Moutai cannot solve the problem," he said.

  The statistics from the Ministry of Finance showed 60 ministries and institutions spent more than 3 billion yuan on government vehicles, receptions and overseas trips in 2010.

  The disclosed information reflected only the total number in official budgets, without details.

  Meanwhile, about 40 percent of the ministries and departments have not released related information nor did many local governments and Party organs.

  The public has been challenging government spending in recent years, especially official banquets and overseas trips, and demands that more information be disclosed so that public money will not be abused.

  "The public won't be satisfied unless government spending is made transparent. And there should be punishments for violators," Zhu said.

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