Clarifying the debt risk

The thorough survey of the rapidly growing government-related debts speaks not only of the authorities' determination to deal with a key fiscal challenge that can and should be addressed timely.

More importantly, it marks a decisive step in China's pursuit of greater fiscal transparency and accountability, which are essential to its economic growth in the long run.

According to the latest report from the National Audit Office, China's government debts reached 20.7 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion) by June 2013, among which 10.9 trillion yuan were piled up by local governments which also hold another 7 trillion yuan contingent debts.