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White paper on political democracy (full text)
(china.org.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-19 11:01 (2) Accelerating the Transformation of Government
Functions
In line with the requirements of democratic
administration, the Chinese government has accelerated its structural reform and
the transformation of government functions, pressed ahead with innovations in
management structures and systems, with special focus on efficiency of
administration, and striven to build a clean, efficient and pragmatic
government.
- Defining the administrative functions of the
government in accordance with the law. Guided by the principle that things that
can be handled by citizens, legal persons or other organizations independently,
or be regulated by the market competition mechanism, or be solved by industrial
organizations or intermediaries through self-disciplinary mechanism, shall not
be solved through administrative ways by administrative organs, the relations
between government and enterprise, government and the market, and government and
society have been rationalized gradually, and things that the government need
not bother about shall be shifted to enterprises, the market or society
correspondingly.
- Deepening the reform of the system of administrative
examination and approval. To solve the problem of excessive administrative
examination and approval and uproot corruption, the Chinese government has
pressed forward with reform of administrative examination and approval,
comprehensively sorted out projects subject to administrative examination and
approval, and scrapped or adjusted the examination and approval of such
projects. From 2002 to 2004, the State Council eliminated or moderated 1,806
such projects in three batches. By the end of 2004, the number of projects that
needed review and approval by State Council departments had been cut by 50.1
percent. In the meantime, local governments have also endeavored to streamline
similar projects and standardize their conducts of examination and approval. The
Chinese government will continue to deepen the reform of the system of
administrative examination and approval, improve the examination and approval
methods, and reinforce follow-up supervision and control, so as to build a
scientific and rational mechanism of administrative management and supervision.
- Strengthening social management and public services.
The Chinese government has made great efforts to improve its social management
system and pattern, and maintain social order and stability to promote social
justice. The State Council has promulgated 106 plans for emergency, including
the Regulations on Response to Public Health Emergencies and the Regulations on
Preventing and Dealing with Geological Disasters, worked out the State General
Plan for Handling Public Health Emergencies, and is constantly improving its
capacity to deal with all emergencies of various kinds. To make itself a better
supplier of public services, the Chinese government is paying more attention to
responding to the common demands of society, and gradually improving and
completing its public policy and service system. In addition, it is shoring up
financial support for education, science and technology, culture, public health
and other social undertakings, and pushing forward the commercialization process
of some public products and services in an active and steady way.
(3) Making Decisions in a Scientific and Democratic
Manner
The Chinese government has kept reforming and improving
its decision-making mechanism, made efforts in introducing a scientific and
democratic practice in decision-making, and encouraged and expanded all forms of
effective participation of the masses in government decision-making.
- Establishing a system of open administration. The
Chinese government requires its subordinate departments at all levels to make
public their administrative affairs as far as possible, so as to enhance the
transparency of government work and guarantee the people's right to know,
participate in and supervise the work of the government. In particular, it
requires schools, hospitals, as well as water, power, gas, public transportation
and other public departments and units that are closely related to the people's
interests to adopt the system of open administration in an all-round way. In
recent years, the work of the government has become more transparent with the
establishment of government websites and promotion of e-government, as well as
the introduction and improvement of the system of press spokesmen and the
mechanism of media reporting on emergencies. Now, the Chinese government is
enacting regulations to enhance the transparency of government administration
with the aim to provide institutional guarantees to standardizing open
administration.
- Increasing the public's participation in government
legislation. By way of media publicity of drafts of laws and regulations,
consultation and discussion with experts, seminars and hearings, the Chinese
government has stepped up the practice of open government legislation to ensure
the effective participation of the public in the work. On the basis of summing
up past experience, the Implementation Outline for Pushing Forward
Administration by Law in an All-Round Way has codified and improved relevant
systems and mechanisms, so as to ensure that the wisdom of the masses and the
will of the people are embodied in government legislation.
- Establishing a system of expert consultation,
discussion and appraisal. When making important decisions, governments at all
levels earnestly listen to and accept the opinions of experts. In recent years,
the state has organized experts to complete several important strategic study
reports on development, including the state medium- and long-term development
plans for science and technology, the development plan for agricultural science
and technology, the national strategy on sustainable development of water
resources, and the plan for building a public health system, thus providing
intellectual support for government decision-making. When formulating or
revising administrative regulations, the State Council extensively solicits the
opinions of experts, accepts their suggestions, and make great efforts to ensure
that the regulations are in accord with reality and are practical.
- Building a system of public hearing and publicity.
Public hearing and publicity are increasingly becoming a common practice adopted
by governments at all levels when making decisions. The Law on Legislation, the
Law on Price, the Law of Administrative Licensing, the Law on Administration of
Toll Highways, and other rules and regulations include expressly specified
provisions on public hearings. Some local governments have also worked out their
own rules on hearings concerning administrative decision-making. In January
2002, the government departments concerned conducted a hearing on the "plan for
government-guided pricing of some passenger train tickets," the first national
hearing on an administrative decision in Chinese history, which attracted wide
attention from the society. In recent years, several thousand hearings of
various kinds have been held across the country, and the public's enthusiasm for
participating in government decision-making is higher than ever before.
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