According to a notice published by the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform on Friday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has been tasked with uncovering fabricated data using modern technology. This directive is part of a revised scheme dictating the agency’s functions, internal structure, and staffing quotas, which took effect on October 28.
The State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform is a joint Communist Party and state body that finalises structural schemes for government and party groups after they are endorsed by the General Office of the party’s Central Committee or the State Council. The office is currently headed by Li Xiaoxin, deputy head of the Central Organisation Department, the party’s top personnel management agency.
The notice states that the NBS will adopt a multipronged approach to ensure the authenticity and scientific rigour of its statistical data. This involves tightening quality control throughout the data collection process and strictly enforcing regional agencies’ responsibility to audit figures. The bureau is explicitly tasked with “making full use of modern technological means to enhance the ability to uncover statistical fabrication”. The NBS will also “intensify statistical oversight and law enforcement inspections” to forge a robust, authoritative and reliable supervision system.
Analysts have long been concerned about the accuracy and authenticity of China’s data, as well as a lack of transparency, while internally, Beijing needs reliable figures to guide its policy direction. In December 2023, the NBS issued a warning to local authorities against fabricating statistics and interfering in data collection to artificially inflate economic performance. At the time, the bureau revealed that certain regions in the southwestern province of Guizhou were falsifying data, while county governments in the northwestern province of Shaanxi had actively interfered with data gathering.
In mid-2022, Zhang Jinghua, a former deputy party chief of Jiangsu province, was expelled from the Communist Party over rare accusations of fabricating economic data. The senior official was found to have faked economic figures for personal promotion and meddled in market activities in violation of relevant regulations.
