Tightening Belts for the People? Xi Slaps His Own Face While Deceiving the Public

Many well-known impoverished counties in China have built extravagant government office buildings. Pictured here is the luxurious government building in Zhengding County, one of Hebei Province's poor counties. (Video screenshot)

[People News] Amid China's long-term economic downturn, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in an effort to address financial shortfalls, has revised its 2013 regulation titled the "Party and Government Organs’ Regulation on Practising Thrift and Opposing Waste". On May 18, the revised regulation was made public, requiring all Party and government bodies to "tighten their belts and live frugally," claiming the aim is to ensure a better life for the common people. In response, internet users mocked the move, saying, “The CCP is just putting on a show to fool the people.” Observers believe this move likely indicates that local governments are already bankrupt and that extravagance within Party and government organs is impairing the normal functioning of state finances—any further and the system may collapse.

According to Xinhua News Agency’s report on May 18, the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council officially released the revised Regulation on Practising Thrift and Opposing Waste by Party and Government Organs (hereafter "the Regulation"). The Regulation mandates all levels of Party and government organs to strictly implement austerity measures, curb extravagance and waste, and ensure that limited fiscal funds are prioritised for key areas and major tasks. The revised Regulation covers official receptions, government vehicles, meetings and events, office buildings, and other areas, detailing spending standards and enhancing oversight mechanisms to significantly reduce administrative costs.

On the same day, the CCP’s official mouthpiece, People’s Daily, stated that “extravagance and waste remain persistent problems,” which reflects the authoritarian government’s fundamental inability to correct its errors. Yet, People’s Daily also published CCP leader Xi Jinping’s directive claiming: “The Party and government must take the lead in living frugally so that the people can live well.” This shows that the call for "tightening belts" is merely propaganda to silence public dissent.

In fact, the term “tightening belts” is not a new slogan. For more than two decades, the CCP has repeatedly demanded that local governments tighten their belts. Even during the high-growth period in 2009 under the Hu-Wen administration, when GDP growth reached 8%, the slogan was still being used. In 2023, the Chinese government even proposed "smashing pots and selling iron" (a metaphor for desperate measures), and some provinces and cities even set up dedicated task forces for this. The call for frugality is made almost every year, yet with zero actual effect.

Media reports reveal that in 2024, Guangdong Province and the four first-tier cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen—all ran fiscal deficits, with general public budget expenditures exceeding revenues. In provinces like Heilongjiang and Yunnan, administrative spending has tripled their income. In several provinces, including Henan and Shandong, teacher and civil servant salaries have been delayed or subsidies slashed.

This highlights that even the CCP recognises that squandering public funds is an intrinsic flaw of its authoritarian rule. Corruption within the CCP has permeated all levels of government, and shouting slogans alone cannot bring real change.

In response, current affairs commentator Zhong Yuan noted, “This call to tighten belts at this particular moment is likely another key signal that the CCP is on a downward slope.”

Chinese-Australian scholar Zhang Xiaogang told Voice of America that “local governments are essentially bankrupt. The CCP has no way to resolve this now, so it is turning to so-called belt-tightening measures to save money.”

Radio Free Asia reported that while China’s National Bureau of Statistics continues to emphasise positive growth trends in the latest economic data, claiming that key indicators are improving, the simultaneous actions taken by the Central Committee and State Council contradict these claims. The newly issued directive calling on all Party and government bodies to lead by example in frugality raises questions: Is China’s economy improving or deteriorating? The reality behind these moves remains open to interpretation.

Independent Chinese political scholar Chen Daoyin told Radio Free Asia that shortly after Xi Jinping came to power, he introduced documents on thrift and anti-waste and proposed the "Eight-point Regulation." Reviewing CCP history shows that such documents typically appear when China’s economy is struggling or facing major issues. “The extravagant spending by Party and government organs is already affecting the normal operations of national finances. If this continues, the system will not be sustainable, hence the call to tighten belts,” he said.

Chen added that the recent China–Latin America Forum held in Beijing announced that China would provide Latin American countries with $66 billion in credit, a clear indication that the frugality demands only target local governments and grassroots civil servants and do not apply to the central government.

Cheng Xiaonong, former Director of the Comprehensive Research Office of China’s Economic System Reform Institute, commented that local governments have long resorted to extreme measures to cut costs—some have even stopped providing water dispensers and required double-sided printing. This shows that administrative spending at the local level is already stretched to the limit. The central government’s renewed push for austerity at the local level essentially signals impending layoffs. Last year, China attempted to ease local fiscal pressures through issuing special-purpose bonds and helping localities swap debt. However, with the real estate crisis unresolved, weak domestic demand, and the added burden of trade wars, central and western regions will likely be the first to fold, cutting staff and expenditures.

Overseas internet users have also voiced strong opinions. They noted: “40% of China’s fiscal revenue goes to supporting government departments, several times higher than in advanced countries. Fiscal revenue as a percentage of GDP is nearing EU levels, yet ordinary people receive so little.” Others said: “When the people are told to tighten their belts and the government has no money, it starts seizing from businesses through arbitrary fines—yet officials’ privileges remain untouched.” One comment read: “The CCP repeats the 'tightening belts' rhetoric, but the fundamental policy of enriching officials while impoverishing the people hasn’t changed. The dual-track system hasn’t changed. Elite privileges haven’t changed. High official salaries haven’t changed.” Another added: “It’s all just a performance to fool the people. CCP officials have long been gorging themselves on corruption—whatever hardship arises, it won’t touch them. Meanwhile, the people are already being bled dry and are suffering immensely.”