China bans new government buildings for 5 years

China has banned new construction, luxury makeovers and expansions of government buildings for the next five years.

"Banning the building of new government buildings is important for building a clean government and also a requirement for boosting CPC [Communist Party of China]-people ties and maintaining the image of the CPC and the government," the government’s directive said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

It’s the latest in a series of changes President Xi Jinping has introduced to squelch waste and corruption among Chinese government officials.

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In recent years, officials have sparked public outrage by spending lavishly to construct ostentatious buildings, sometimes in poor areas of the country. Unpopular buildings include a $4.89 million office building in the city of Fuyang in Anhui province nicknamed the “White House,” and a state-owned drug company decorated to look like France's Palace of Versailles.

“The main purpose of the call for a ban on new government buildings is largely symbolic in that these are a highly visible sign of government officials misusing public monies,” Andrew Wedeman, a political science professor at Georgia State University, told Bloomberg News.

“A real assault on corruption, however, requires a much less visible, long-term effort to attack the causes of corruption, not just those involved and the visible symbols of corruption.”