Highlights of China's cabinet reshuffle and government function transformation
Following are the highlights of a plan on the State Council institutional reform and transformation of government functions delivered Sunday to the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislature.
According to the program, China will:
To dissolve the Railway Ministry, with its administrative powers incorporated into the
Ministry of Transport. The China Railway Corporation will take over the Railway Ministry's commercial functions;
To set up the
National Health and Family Planning Commission through merging the existing Health Ministry with the National Population and Family Planning Commission;
To elevate the status of the State Administration of Food and Drug to a general administration in order to improve food and drug safety;
To merge its two media regulators, the General Administration of Press and Publication and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, into one to oversee the country's press, publication, radio, film and television sectors;
To restructure the country's top oceanic administration to enhance maritime law enforcement and strengthen protection and use of its oceanic resources; and
To restructure the National Energy Administration in order to streamline administrative and regulatory system of the energy sector.
China unveils cabinet reshuffle plan
China to merge press, broadcasting regulators
China to elevate food, drug agency to general administration
China to merge health ministry, family planning commission
China to restructure National Energy Administration
China to dismantle Railway Ministry
Chinese Media:
●
Global Times:
Institutional reforms do not necessarily lead to political reforms. Such a process needs each step of the reforms to be closely monitored, so as to ensure that reforms do not need to be repeated due to a lack of serious implementation and support.
Ministerial reforms are a by-product of the market economy as it develops. The reason for ministerial reforms is that the government is delegating power. The success of institutional reforms will result in the rising efficiency of government management and the prosperity of a market-oriented society. If they are not successful, this will bring new troubles, which will dial down the public's passion and support for reforms. The negative political impact will be too great to measure, especially in the Internet era.
●
Eastday.com:
The institutional reforms should not simply cut or combine departments, but rather directly address the real reason behind the reforms – the structure in place cannot keep up with China’s rapid economic development.
"It’s not easy for the government to fit the current administrative powers to accommodate the current economic development".
●Guangzhou Daily:
The purpose of the State Council reforms and departmental reshuffling is to reallocate authority and refocus interests. However, persuading departments with old vested interests to adapt to new roles will pose a formidable challenge. The government should be courageous and wise in advancing these reforms.
●Daily Sunshine:
The main concern among Chinese is that the price of train tickets will increase while management remains rigid and customer service remains as bad as before.
“The key point to deepening reform is to end the monopoly and allow others to enter in direct competition with the China Railway Corporation.”
●The Southern Metropolis Daily:
During the Ministry of Railways era, people always complained about how the ministry was never completely transparent with their ticket pricing and its inefficient staff.
“If the China Railway Corporation, which will handle the commercial side of the railway ministry, keeps their pricing system a secret and fails to convince travelers they’re cutting costs, they will surely lose public support.”
●Beijing News:
Handing the administrative and commercial aspects separately clearly defines the role of government and free market in the railway industry – the China Railway Corporation will take over operations while the State Railway Administration will focus on supervision.
Foreign Media:
●BBC:
China has dissolved its powerful railways ministry in a raft of measures aimed at boosting government efficiency and tackling corruption.
●AP:
The plan reflects the priorities of the newly installed Communist Party leadership as it seeks to reduce waste, boost efficiency and address quality of life issues for a more prosperous, demanding society.
The railway so far has been able to rely for a large part on drawing revenues from freight and passenger services. A big challenge ahead is keeping that money coming in as competition from planes, cars and river transport increases.