Watchdog revises stipend rules for officials' business trips

China's top disciplinary watchdog Sunday announced revised stipend rules for officials' business trips, saying only officials at the ministerial-level and above can fly first class and stay at hotel suites.

Other officials, including department-level officials, are limited to economy-class air tickets and stay at single or standard rooms, the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.

Ministerial-level and department-level officials can travel first class by train while other officials should travel in second class coaches.

Ministerial-level officials will be given 800 yuan ($127) per day for accommodations for business trips, department-level officials 450 to 500 yuan while other officials 310 to 350 yuan depending on the cost of their destinations, the announcement also noted.

Zhu Lijia, a public management professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times that the stipend levels are fair because of the pace of China's economy.

Officials will be given 120 yuan per day for food for trips to the Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, while 100 yuan per day for food will be provided when traveling to other parts of the country, the CCDI said.

If local departments have arranged accommodations and catering, the official needs to pay those departments and the cost cannot surpass the stipend.

Officials can also get 80 yuan per day to cover their daily transportation requirements during their business trips.

The announcement urges officials to submit receipts, tickets and trip permits to authorities as soon as they return. Officials need to pay for expenses not covered by the stipend or for failing to provide receipts.

"The CCDI announcement has made it convenient for the public to supervise officials' business trips," Zhu said, adding the government should disclose more detailed plans for meeting arrangements and business trips in advance.

A number of officials have resigned for engaging in luxury business trips or using government funds for personal trips.

Li Mingmu, the Party chief of a county-level forestry bureau in Sichuan Province, has been dismissed from his position in the Party for frequently organizing private trips for officials and their families with government funds, the CCDI announced on Sunday.

Ye Chunhe, a vice general manager of Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) and Lao Guangxiong, the head of the SHFE's disciplinary watchdog, received "serious warning" and administrative punishment for engaging in private sightseeing tours and using public funds to cover personal expenses during an overseas business trip, the CCDI added.

To curb such anomalous practices, the Ministry of Finance issued a regulation in January 2014 to manage officials' business trips and urged the central government to improve the approval system for official business trips.

According to that regulation, officials cannot receive presents or attend tours which are unrelated to their work.