Financial Risk:

Critical

Score:

14/100

Asset Disposals

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Q24 17/100

How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?

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Controls Score: 50 / 100
There are different regulations that govern the asset disposal process which are publicly available (Law of the PRC on Protecting Military Facilities 1990, Law…
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Transparency of disposal process Score: 0 / 100
There is no publicly available information on the process of planned or actual asset disposal.
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Transparency of financial results of disposals Score: 0 / 100
There is no publicly available information on the financial results of actual asset disposal.
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Q25 17/100

Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?

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Scrutiny Score: 50 / 100
The CMC Audit Office (CMCAO) is in charge of scrutinising asset disposals. In 2014 the CMCAO became independent from the former PLA General Logistics…
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Independence Score: 0 / 100
Scrutiny is only internal, provided by the CMC Audit Office and, in case of suspected corruption, the Discipline Inspection Commission. Both the CMCAO and…
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Transparency Score: 0 / 100
Audit reports are not made public. There is no guaranteed access to information by law and in practice, asset disposal reports are not made…
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Secret Budgets

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Q26 0/100

What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?

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Score: 0 / 100
Information on secret items spending is not publicly available nor can an estimate be easily offered. [5,6] The published defence budget includes only three…
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Q27 0/100

Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?

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Score: 0 / 100
Neither the Chinese Constitution nor the NPC or PLA regulations stipulate access to information on secret budgets. In addition, the People’s Liberation Army Secrecy…
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Q28 0/100

Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?

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Comprehensiveness Score: 0 / 100
The National People’s Congress does not debate the audit accounts of the security sector. The NPC’s role in relation to the defence and security…
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Parliamentary scrutiny Score: NA / 100
The NPC is not provided with audit reports for secret items. As such, this indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’.
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Q29 8/100

In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?

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Permitted exceptions Score: 0 / 100
China’s publicly announced defence budget includes only three broad categories: foreign acquisitions, military R&D, and the military component of space exploration. [1,3,4,5,9] It is…
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Recording mechanisms Score: 0 / 100
There are no recording mechanisms or regulations that would force these off-budget military expenditures to be recorded in the budget. [1,2]
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Prevalence Score: 25 / 100
Off-budget military expenditures, which are not illegal in China, are estimated to be a large proportion of military spending, close to 33%. [1,2] The…
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Q30 0/100

Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?

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Legal framework Score: 0 / 100
There is no mechanism for accessing information from the defence sector. Existing Open Government Information regulations stipulate that access to military information falls under…
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Classification of information Score: NS / 100
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. China’s law on the Protection of State Secrets (中华人民共和国保守国家秘密法) stipulates that military secrets are…
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Effectiveness Score: 0 / 100
As explained in 30A, there is no mechanism for accessing information from the defence sector. Existing Open Government Information regulations stipulate that access to…
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Q31 NEI/100

Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?

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Extent of commercial ventures Score: NEI / 100
Due to a complete lack of transparency, it is not possible to evaluate the extent of commercial ownership as a percentage of the defence…
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Transparency Score: 25 / 100
Due to a complete lack of transparency, it is not possible to evaluate the extent of commercial ownership as a percentage of the defence…
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Military-owned Businesses

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Q32 25/100

Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?

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Independent scrutiny Score: 50 / 100
Military-owned businesses are scrutinised by organs of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP has its own anticorruption organ, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection,…
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Transparency Score: 0 / 100
Audit details of military-owned businesses are not routinely made available to the public. Some information on cases involving corruption is released occasionally [1] but…
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Illegal Private Enterprise

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Q33 75/100

Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?

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Prohibition Score: 100 / 100
The Chinese Civil Service Law [1] explicitly forbids all public employees from engaging in private businesses (Article 53) and stipulates specific time gaps between…
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Prevalence Score: 50 / 100
There has been evidence of poorly regulated businesses and use of military units and equipment for private gain. Following two divestitures in 1998 and…
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Actual Military Spending

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Q77 0/100

Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?

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Proactive publication Score: 0 / 100
There are no reports on actual spending made available to the public or the legislature during the budget year. China only publishes its annual…
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Comprehensiveness Score: NA / 100
No actual spending information is made publicly available during the budget year. As such, this indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’.
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Timeliness Score: NA / 100
No actual spending information is made publicly available during the budget year. As such, this indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’.
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Comparison against budget Score: NA / 100
No actual spending information is made publicly available during the budget year. As such, this indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’.
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