China’s Politburo tightens benefits for retired and present party, state leaders
New rules say officials should enjoy correct level of housing and vehicles, right number of staff and holidays, and they should leave their offices after retiring
The Communist Party’s decision-making Politburo has pledged to streamline and tighten the benefits for serving and retired party and state leaders, including housing, offices, holidays, vehicles and staff, state media reported.
A document passed by the Politburo at its monthly session on Wednesday stipulated that party and state leaders should have the correct standard of housing and vehicles, the right number of staff and a limited number of holidays each year, according to Xinhua.
The Politburo also stressed that party and state leaders had to move out of their offices in a timely manner after they had retired, the report added.
The statement gave no specific examples of wrongdoing, but Bo Zhiyue, a professor of Chinese politics at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, said former president Jiang Zemin could be among the former top leaders who had kept their offices after retiring.
It has been widely reported that Jiang, who also served as chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission (CMC), had kept his office at the August 1 – or Bayi – Building, the headquarters of the world’s largest army in the heart of Beijing, for many years after leaving his military post in late 2004.