BEIJING, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Chinese radio and television
stations are to ban advertisements for expensive gifts such as
watches, rare stamps and gold coins, the Xinhua state news
agency said on Wednesday, as part of a push by the government to
crack down on extravagance and waste.
Such advertisements had “publicised incorrect values and
helped create a bad social ethos”, the State Administration of
Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said in a release, Xinhua
said.
The ban comes after repeated calls from Xi Jinping, China’s
president-in-waiting, for a renewed fight against graft.
Xi said in a speech on Jan. 22 that targeting the “flies”,
or lowly people involved in corruption, was just as important as
going after the “tigers”, or top officials.
“As important cultural and ideological strongholds, radio
and television channels should fully exert their role of
educating the people,” a spokesman for SARFT told Xinhua.
Xi has warned that a failure to weed out corruption and
extravagance would put the ruling Communist Party’s survival in
jeopardy. The party has been embarrassed by a string of
corruption scandals at its highest levels.
Last October, the government banned civil servants from
splurging on boozy banquets and fancy cars, and from accepting
costly gifts.
Xi is due to take over as president at an annual meeting of
parliament in March.
(Reporting By Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)
