It’s short-termism but not the kind you first think of in the West.

Chinese local officials are expected to meet and exceed targets for GDP growth. Investment is GDP growth, so officials are incentivized to build lots of flashy projects to boost growth even if there isn’t a clear need for them.

The central government is so concerned with local government spending that has resulted that it has ordered 12 provinces to halt new projects: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-orders-indebted-lo...

It's amazing how different accounting systems can affect decision-making.

That's... worse than the US not building any infrastructure?

Is built infrastructure any good if it has to close or never operates? https://english.pardafas.com/china-sees-more-stations-shut-d...

The local government debt burden that has resulted has also started resulting in other services getting cut, like local bus services ceasing to operate. What good is a high speed rail line you can't get to? https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chinese-bus-crisis,-a-new-bu...

it's really weired because you seem know very much abt china but still are very misleaded

i'm really curious about how you get those information about china, because those information are mostly target to domestic chinese, rarely go abroad, the ultimate purpose of these information is to privatize state-owned enterprises(or opposite, it's complex, even for most Chinese live in China)

like,

> It calls on them to ensure that funding for public transport is included in their budgets, so that they can provide bus service operators with financial subsidies in a timely manner

if you know more abt it, you'll know the bogged bus service is a very classic example to show what'll happened if you handle your public service to a private enterprise, yes, not like China Railway, that bus operator is not a state-owned company, which was threating local gov for subsidies, would be better if they managed to force the local gov acquisite their shit

i sincerely you to dig more by yourself, be cautious with your sources

and if you want to know more abt the debt crisis in China, welcome to ask, a little tip, the keyword is 'bridge', not 'bus' or 'railway'

Building out mostly unused high-speed rail interconnections and being in debt is a well-known sign of a country that thinks short-term. the local government gets paid for building these useless rails out.

China Sees More Stations Shut Down as High-Speed Rail Debt Crisis Deepens https://english.pardafas.com/china-sees-more-stations-shut-d...

China’s High-Speed Rail Is Dead: Over 4,000 Ghostly Stations, Billions Spent, No Passengers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhclmurNUuw

Building nothing and being in even more in debt is the high IQ play.

First time I genuinely LOL’d on HN