MAKING DECISIONS: Parents are more nervous than students about admission requirements at a college recruitment consultation fair in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, on June 27 (ZHANG GUOJUN)

Damaged Credibility

The National Audit Office said in a recent report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, various departments of the Central Government had used fake receipts to claim reimbursement. The report said auditors surveyed 29,363 receipts that had been reimbursed and found 5,170 of them were fake, involving the sum of 142 million yuan ($21 million). These fake receipts were drawn for welfare benefits of workers with these departments or similar purposes.

As fake receipts account for one sixth of the total amount, the proportion is certainly large enough to impair government credibility. Various central government departments have been empowered to formulate and issue all kinds of policies and regulations. If they themselves misuse public funds and play tricks with receipts, how do they expect the public to believe them?

The audit report said all the departments found using fake receipts have been required to hand in authentic ones and some of them have been censured. These are just too light punishments to curb similar falsification.

If there are laws and regulations on such collective corruption, there should be strict enforcement; if there are no existing laws, work some out, please. By no means should corruption be let go of so easily.

The various departments of the Central Government are supposed to quickly correct wrongdoings so as to set a good example for local governments at various levels and also to win the public's trust.

Xinhua Daily Telegraph

Being Adults

With the announcement of college entrance exam results, this year's examinees are busy selecting suitable colleges. In Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 259 colleges held recruitment consultation fairs recently, but parents rather than students are consulting colleges at the fairs.

Modern society is changing rapidly, and parents are worried about their children's possible misjudgment in choosing future careers. This makes the parents reluctant to let their children make decisions about too many things and, as a result, the children depend increasingly on their parents, afraid of taking responsibility for themselves.

However, it is very likely some parents' choices do not conform to their children's will. If so, the children will hardly like schools and majors their parents force on them. As independent adults, students should learn to make decisions for themselves and bear the responsibility for their decisions.

Yangcheng Evening News

Hold Them Accountable

In China, the harnessing and maintenance of large waterways, such as the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, are the Central Government's responsibility, while those of smaller rivers and tributaries are local governments'.

Local officials often complain about fund shortages. If that's the truth, why are they so interested in building landscaping projects along the rivers? It is because these projects add points to their political achievement records but flood control projects bring no immediate profits. As a result, they seldom spend a penny on the latter.

Although small rivers are mainly managed by local governments, the Central Government would always offer them relief funds once big floods occur, and local governments can benefit from fund allocations. Without any strict accountability mechanisms, local governments may be encouraged to let water conservancy projects further run down. As a result, flooding sometimes is not purely a natural disaster.

It's important for the Central Government to take this chance of improving the country's overall flood prevention and control system by holding non-performing officials accountable post-disaster. This will be one of the most effective methods of strengthening flood prevention and control projects.

The Beijing News

A Burden Forever?

The bridge toll in central China's Wuhan, Hubei Province, which is divided into three parts by the Yangtze River, is to be raised again, this time by 1.5 times. The local government's explanation is this higher toll will encourage people to use public traffic more than private cars and, besides, the charge will pay off loans for bridge building.

Official statistics say last year Wuhan's toll revenue was 412 million yuan ($60 million), not even half as much as the loan interest it should have paid. But, even if there is such a huge debt to pay off, it's still all right that local taxpayers reject the toll charge. First, the law does not grant local governments the power to impose indiscriminate toll charges on all vehicles using the bridges; second, taxpayers are entitled to use publicly funded infrastructure freely; third, even if the toll charge is legal, the levying of fuel tax from 2009 is based on the revoking of bridge and road toll charges.

Until now, five of the six cross-Yangtze River bridges in Wuhan have been in use for more than eight years. Before raising the bridge toll, the government should first disclose how much money it has collected in previous years and how many loans have not been paid.

The public is not supposed to be the government's profitable cash cow and the latter by no means should charge the former whenever it wants to.

Yangtze Evening Post