Shenzhen Party Chief: Corruption to Blame for Pricey Moutai

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Photo:Bound for a government banquet? Bottles of China Kweichow Moutai Distillery Co. baiju liquor await packaging at the company’s facility in Zunyi, Guizhou Province. (From Wall Streel Journal )

“Moutai is so expensive. If there were no such consumption using public funds, it wouldn’t have reached its current price,” Mr. Wang said.

Article published on WALL STREET JOURNAL, by Shen Hong 

With inflation running high and stock markets depressed, it is no wonder that Moutai, China’s most famous brand of the infamously potent baijiu liquor, has been elevated to the status of investment-grade luxury item in recent years. But according to one unexpectedly straight-talking communist party official, the sky-rocketing price of Moutai is also emblematic of another Chinese trend: rising corruption.

In surprisingly candid remarks made at a local government meeting this week, Wang Rong, Party secretary of Shenzhen, lashed out at the various forms of the abuse of public funds by officials. In particular, he described wining and dining on the government budget “the toughest and a very complicated issue” for the authorities to correct, reported the Southern Daily (in Chinese).

Read the Original Article About Pricey Moutai 

Source: Wall Streel Journal