On China’s social media platforms last week, a recording surfaced that revealed a side of the country’s debt crisis that has largely gone unreported.
The recording is presented as a conversation between an unnamed representative of a medical technology company and a market regulation enforcement officer, surnamed Zhang, from Chengwu county in eastern China’s Shandong province.
In the four-minute conversation, the cadre uses a threatening tone to discuss how his county has a revenue target that must be collected from businesses each year to meet budget shortfalls.
“I must admit that I know little about helping businesses to thrive,” Zhang is heard saying in the recording. “But I definitely know how to crush them.”
The conversation shone a light on the desperation faced by local governments struggling to come to terms with bleak finances and debilitating debt, and the lengths some municipal officials have resorted to in an effort to pay down that debt.