An improved social credit system was needed so that "discredited people become bankrupt," Hou Yunchun, former deputy director of the development research center of the State Council, was quoted as saying by Sina Finance at an annual credit development forum in Beijing on Saturday.
"If we don't increase the cost of being discredited, we are encouraging discredited people to keep at it," Hou reportedly said. "That destroys the whole standard."
Hou's phrase that the "discredited people become bankrupt" makes the point, but is an oversimplification, Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times.
"How the person is restricted in terms of public services or business opportunities should be in accordance with how and to what extent he or she lost his credibility."
"Discredited people deserve legal consequences," Zhi said. "This is definitely a step in the right direction to building a society with credibility."
This article was originally written by Liu Xuanzun and published in Global Times.