"People can now see through some officials' practise of faking their achievements with exaggerated figures, but they cannot identify those who flaunt their achievements that have come at high administrative costs," Jilin Province Governor Han Changfu said at the China-Europe Senior Forum on Government Management.
"A modern government should be responsible, efficient and (aim to achieve) low cost," he said. "I think a responsible administration is one that takes the least time and money to fulfill its mission."
China's administrative reforms to improve efficiency should focus on several key aspects, including building a reasonable appraisal system on civil servants' performance, optimizing the set-up of government offices and promoting e-governance.
Some other senior officials corroborated Han. Huang Wenping, vice-minister of the State Commission for Public Sector Reform, said some governments' functions are odd in some ways because they try to "take care of too many things, set up too many approval requirements, and step too much into micro-economy".
"Their role should shift from taking care of everything to focusing on macro-control, providing services and creating a favorable environment for the development of various market entities," Huang said.
The annual forum is a high-level communication platform between Chinese and European officials on public administration. The forum's theme this year is public sector reform and improvement of government performance, echoing the call of the 17th National Congress of Communist Party of China (CPC) to intensify government reform toward a service-oriented administration.
Italian Undersecretary of State for Reform and Innovation in Public Administration Gian Pieio Scanu said he was impressed by the Chinese government's determination to reform the administration.
"I believe the Chinese administration is seriously committed to improving the performance of the government, to looking for harmony of different components and to taking care of the needs of individuals," he said after a meeting with Minister of Personnel Yin Weimin on the sidelines of the forum.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Li Xiaokun
Quelle/Source: China Daily, 14.11.2007
