safety inspectors dispatched by the Central Government. It is later found that Xiuwen County copied the reporting material of its neighbor Xifeng County.

In many cases, what a report says is far from the actual situation on the ground, so local governments know it’s unnecessary to report the facts. It is due to the slack attitude of inspectors in the past that Xiuwen County plagiarized its report because local officials believed no one would check to see the similarities.

This scandal is a warning to governments at all levels-in order to pick up irregularities in the future, reform in the current inspection system is necessary. For example, there should be more on-the-spot visits and random inspections. Reports on programs or projects must also be carefully scrutinized to pick up any errors.

Modern Express