China’s Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping reads as attendants serve tea
at the Great Hall of the People during the third plenary session of the
National People’s Congress in Beijing, yesterday.
VIDEO: LC: TIAN WEI ON NPC CPPCC CCTV News - CNTV English
(Reuters) -
China
unveiled a government restructuring plan on Sunday, cutting
cabinet-level entities by two and dissolving its powerful Railways
Ministry, as the country's new leaders look to boost efficiency and
combat corruption.
The reforms mark the biggest
reduction in ministries since 1998 when then-premier Zhu Rongji oversaw
the overhaul of the State Council, and coincides with growing public
concern over transparency and overlapping bureaucracies.
The
government will join the Family Planning Commission -- the agency that
controls the controversial one-child policy -- with the Health Ministry,
and strengthen the powers of the food and drug regulators, it said in a
report released during the on-going annual meeting of parliament.
"Currently,
numerous operational, organizational and division of labor problems
exist in State Council ministries," State Council Secretary-General Ma
Kai said in a speech on the plan to the National People's Congress.
Ma
added that "breach of duty, using positions for personal gain and
corruption" under the structure had not been effectively constrained.
China's
president-in-waiting Xi Jinping and premier-designate Li Keqiang assume
their new roles after the annual congress concludes next week.
The
Railways Ministry and Family Planning Commission have been particularly
unpopular, and their restructuring was widely expected.
The
Railways Ministry has faced numerous problems over the past few years,
including heavy debts from funding new high-speed lines, waste and
fraud.
Railways planning will be
coordinated under the broader transport ministry. The government has
pledged to open the rail industry to private investment on an
unprecedented scale.
Family
planning officials, meanwhile, have been known to compel women to have
abortions to meet birth-rate targets. High profile cases have sparked
national fury, such as when a woman in inland Shaanxi province was
forced to abort her 7-month pregnancy last year.
Some
analysts have said the merger of the health and family planning
agencies would be a blow to the political base needed to maintain the
one-child policy, which many demographers say should be relaxed.
The
report said family planning must continue "on the basis of stable and
low birth rates", but added that policies would be "improved". China's
one-child policy is still generally enforced, although there are a
number of family situations exempt from the rule.
A
recently retired official from the Family Planning Commission who
maintains close ties with the agency, said the merger does not mean the
commission's power will be reduced.
"For
such a long time, hundreds of millions of people had to have
contraception and birth control, this kind of work is necessary. But
it's possible that there will be fewer things done by force," the
retired official said.
SUPER MINISTRIES
The
restructuring plan, which will cut cabinet-level agencies to 25, will
also boost the role of the food and drug regulators, placing it within
the cabinet in response to an almost never-ending series of scandals
over product safety.
Prosecutions
for producing or selling fake drugs or toxic food jumped to more than
8,000 in 2012, more than five times the number in 2011, according to a
report by the office of China's top prosecutor also issued on Sunday.
China's
maritime enforcement agencies will be consolidated, as well, giving the
National Oceanic Administration control over coast guard forces,
customs police and fisheries enforcement as China faces growing tensions
with
Japan and South East Asian neighbors over disputed seas.
The move will bring China's maritime law enforcement forces, currently
scattered among different ministries, under the unified management of a
single administration, according to a report delivered by State
Councilor Ma Kai at the annual parliamentary session on Sunday.
The
new agency will still be named the National Oceanic Administration
(NOA). It will have under its control the coast guard forces of the
Public Security Ministry, the fisheries law enforcement command of the
Agriculture Ministry and the maritime anti-smuggling police of the
General Administration of Customs, Ma said in his report about the plan
on the institutional restructuring and functional transformation of the
State Council, China's cabinet.
The NOA currently has only one maritime law enforcement department, China Marine Surveillance.
The proposed administration, administered by the Ministry of Land and
Resources, will carry out law enforcement activities in the name of
China's maritime police bureau and under the operational direction of
the Ministry of Public Security, said Ma, who is also the
secretary-general of the State Council.
In addition to law
enforcement, other functions of the new administration include outlining
the oceanic development plan, supervising and managing the use of sea
waters, and protecting ocean ecology, Ma said.
A high-level
consultative and coordinating body, the National Oceanic Commission,
will also be set up to formulate oceanic development strategies and
coordinate important oceanic affairs, Ma said.
One parliament delegate said on the sidelines of the congress session that the move was not linked to the military.
"Our
coastline is very long and our oceans cover a vast area. There is no
military thinking behind it," said Zhang Guibai.
China will also merge its
two media watchdogs -- the General Administration of Press and
Publication and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television
-- and restructure the National Energy Administration, Ma said.
The move is meant to coordinate the resources of each
sector and promote the reform of cultural institutions, Ma said in his
report on the plan for the institutional reform and functional
transformation of the State Council, China's cabinet.
The new administration will be responsible for promoting the
development of these sectors and supervising related agencies and their
businesses, said Ma, who is also secretary-general of the State Council.
The merger will be conducive to establishing a modern
communication system, which is rapidly shaped by digital information
technology, and boosting the country's cultural influence, said a
statement from the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform,
which explains the reason of the institutional reform
Sources: Reuters -
Reporting by Michael Martina, Shen Yan, Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jonathan Standing and Michael Perry; CCTV, Xinhua
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