China’s anti-corruption watchdog has highlighted fake economic data in two more northern provinces, giving a political edge to Beijing’s attempts to solve a widespread problem of questionable statistics.
Data were falsified by “some regions” or companies in coal-rich Inner Mongolia as well as Jilin province, in the country’s grain heartland, the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection said in a critique of malfeasance by local officials in the two provinces. It did not provide details or a timeframe.
The CCDI attributed the problem to local cadres’ insufficient embrace of the “four consciousnesses” — in other words, their ideological adherence to China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. The criticism of fake data by the ruling Communist party — rather than the civil government — adds heft to Beijing’s effort to clean up false reporting.