After the Communist Party, army and the civil services, Chinese President Xi Jinping has turned the attention of his anti-corruption and austerity drive on the "Big Boys," the highly paid executives of the State-owned Enterprises, calling for reforms to slash their salaries.
"China will gradually regulate the income distribution system at State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) to make salary levels appropriate, salary structures reasonable, and strictly manage and supervise the system," Xi said yesterday.
He was addressing the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms here.
The plan indicates reform has moved into a critical period affecting the country's vested interests, Director of the Research Centre for Economy at the China Institute for Reform and Development Kuang Xianming said.
China has thousands of SOEs, some 113 of which are directly administered by the country's central authority.
Considered the backbone of the economy, these enterprises are also infamous for their inefficiency, monopolies in many sectors, profligacy and corruption, long been a source of public complaints.
Data showed the average annual salary of executives at centrally administered SOEs ranged from 6, 50, 000 (USD 1, 05, 600) to 7, 00,000 yuan in 2010 and 2011.
Considering that some SOEs flourish under state patronage, these salaries were unreasonably higher than those of civil servants, state-run Xinhua news agency said today.
In addition to the much-envied high salaries, what has most irked the public has been the so-called "invisible income," such as transportation and communication allowances and other material benefits the executives enjoy.
"This has directly widened the income distribution gap in China," Kuang said.
Linking income distribution reform with the Party's campaign against extravagance and other undesirable work practices, Xi said that apart from necessary allowed expenses, they will not get personal perks.
Under the ongoing anti-corruption and austerity drive, several retired and top-ranking officials are facing probe.
