Government Institutional Reform

It is an important content of China’s political system reform, and its main tasks are to focus on transforming functions, rationalizing relationships, optimizing structures, and improving efficiency, form an administrative system with consistent powers and responsibilities, reasonable division of labor, scientific decision-making, smooth execution, and strong supervision, and build a service-oriented government. That is, through reforms, to realize the fundamental transformation of providing high-quality public services and maintaining social fairness and justice, realize the fundamental transformation of government organizations and staffing towards scientization, standardization, and legislation, and realize the fundamental transformation of administrative operation mechanism and government management modes towards standardization and orderliness, openness and transparency, convenience and efficiency, and build a government that satisfies the people. Since the founding of New China, the Party and government have made unremitting efforts to establish and improve flexible and efficient Party and government organs with reasonable structure and capable personnel and have carried out better troops and simpler administration for several times. Three large-scale institutional reforms were carried out in 1951, 1956, and 1960-1964. Since the Reform and Opening-up, China has successively carried out 7 State Council government institutional reforms in 1982, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013, in an effort to reduce administrative costs and improve administrative efficiency. The organs composing the State Council have been reduced from 100 in 1982 to 25 in 2013.

The practice of several government institutional reforms since 1982 has accumulated some valuable experience: adhering to the reform goal of adapting to the socialist market economy system, and taking the transformation of government functions as the key to institutional reforms; adhering to the principles of simplification, unity, and efficiency, and taking better troops and simpler administration and optimizing government organization structure as important tasks of institutional reforms; adhering to the combination of institutional reforms and cadre personnel system reforms to optimize the structure of the cadre teams; adhering to unified leadership, hierarchical responsibility, step-by-step implementation, proceeding from reality and carrying out reforms in accordance with local conditions.

The transformation of government functions is the core of administrative system reform. The function is the basis for the establishment of the organization, and the organization is the carrier of the function. The key to transforming government functions is to handle the relationship between government and market, government and enterprises, government and social organizations, government and individuals. Since the Reform and Opening-up, the process of administrative system reform in China is a process of shifting from the government function system under the planned economy to that under the socialist market economy, as well as a process of continuously clarifying the boundaries between the government and the market, enterprises, social organizations, and individuals. Governments, enterprises, social organizations, and individuals play different roles and assume different responsibilities in economic and social affairs. For a society to function well, these four must strictly observe the divisions and assume their own responsibilities. In particular, the boundaries of power of the government must be clarified so as to avoid assume “unlimited responsibility”.By promoting the transformation of functions, we shall accelerate the formation of a functional system of government agencies with clear boundaries of power, reasonable division of labor, consistent responsibilities and powers, efficient operation, and law-based guarantee, so as to effectively improve the scientific level of government management. The reform of government institutions and the transformation of functions must promote the separation of government and enterprises, the separation of government and public institutions, and the separation of government and communities, and accelerate the improvement of the socialist market economic system. The focus shall be put on delegating power to the market and society, reducing interference in micro-affairs, giving better play to the role of the government, improving and strengthening macro-management, and implementing strict post-event supervision.

The reform of government institutions is a process of continuous deepening, which cannot be accomplished overnight nor ceased to advance, but requires to adapting to the economic and social development and constantly exploring and seeking progress while maintaining stability. On the one hand, for some issues that are related to the improvement of the socialist market economy system and the construction of social systems and mechanisms, and there are broad consensus and relatively mature conditions, we shall firmly promote reforms. On the other hand, we shall fully consider the complex situation and various risks and challenges faced by economic and social development, and maintain the overall relative stability of government agencies. For some long-standing issues that are of high social concern, they can be resolved through functional adjustments, or through necessary institutional adjustments in due course.