China has made great strides in building a service-oriented government, and the number of departments in the State Council has dropped to 26.
Cartography: Peng Xunwen Source: China Organization Compilation Network (Note: Data from 2003 to 2018 are not included in the State Council Office).
"A toad jumps into the water and belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture. When it jumps to the shore, it belongs to the Forestry Bureau." "I plant peony under the management of the Forestry Bureau, and if I replant peony, I have to belong to the Ministry of Agriculture. One is herbaceous and the other is woody." At the National People’s Congress, which ended in March, a member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference described the overlapping functions of government agencies. However, with the adoption of the State Council’s institutional reform plan at the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress and the announcement of the Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), these phenomena will become history.
According to the plan, as far as the State Council is concerned, the number of ministerial-level institutions will be reduced by 8 and the number of deputy ministerial-level institutions will be reduced by 7; What I wanted to change for many years is now real … … At home and abroad, the words "unprecedented", "comprehensive change" and "profound reconstruction" have been used to evaluate.
Institutional reform is a self-revolution. Since the reform and opening up, institutions in the State Council have been reformed eight times, and the number of departments (ministries) has been reduced from 52 to 26 (excluding the General Office of the State Council), and the government efficiency has been continuously improved. In an interview with reporters, relevant experts said that the reform of government institutions in the past 40 years has formed a basic logic and successful experience, that is, always strengthening the overall leadership of the party, with the goal of transforming government functions and building a service-oriented government that the people are satisfied with. In the new era, we should pay more attention to strengthening the systematicness and coordination of institutional reform, consolidate the reform results, and further improve the modernization level of the national governance system and governance capacity.
The reform is unprecedented.
"I attended a symposium, and an expert told me that when he went to the investigation, he found that eating in a restaurant was to collect business tax from the local tax, and to pack it away, it was to collect value-added tax from the national tax. He asked the local authorities, which department should collect taxes if you stand on the threshold of a restaurant? At that time, the other party gave him the answer ‘ You’re a wrangler ’ 。”
Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China told this story when he met with Chinese and foreign journalists covering this year’s National People’s Congress and answered questions. This institutional reform will merge the provincial and sub-provincial national tax and local taxation agencies, and similar phenomena of multi-head tax collection and interference with enterprises will no longer exist.
The reason for the merger is that in recent years, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have vigorously promoted the reform of business tax and abolished business tax, and realized that the tax revenue is mainly shared tax. Yang Yiwen, mayor of Loudi City, Hunan Province, said in an interview: "The national tax and local tax in Loudi City used to work in a service hall. Now the combination of the two is a new pattern for local finance and tax collection and management systems."
This is a microcosm of the great institutional changes in the State Council. According to the plan, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Insurance Regulatory Commission of the Bank of China, the National Health and Wellness Commission, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Emergency Management Department, the State Administration of Market Supervision, and the National Health Insurance Bureau have become new institutions in the State Council, while the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Legislative Affairs Office, the Three Gorges Office, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission have withdrawn from the historical stage.
After the reform, the State Council has reduced 8 ministerial-level institutions and 7 deputy ministerial-level institutions. In addition to the general office, there are 26 departments, 1 directly affiliated ad hoc institution, 10 directly affiliated institutions and 2 offices.
"The new round of institutional reform, involving a wide range of fields, deep levels, great strength and intensive pace, is rare in the political field since the reform and opening up, showing the firm determination to deepen the reform of the political and administrative system in the new era and having distinctive characteristics of the times." Qi Jie, director of the Administrative Research Office of the Institute of Political Science of China Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that, unlike the past, a new round of institutional reform was initiated against the background of Socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era, with completely different reform environment and development conditions.
He analyzed that China’s economic development strength, level and social maturity are now higher, and the overall environment for deepening institutional reform is already in place; At the same time, the new task of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s development in the new era puts forward urgent requirements for strengthening the leadership of the Party and forming a scientific and effective management system of the Party and the state. In this context, both the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Decision on Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and this year’s two sessions of the National People’s Congress have promoted the deepening of the reform of Party and State institutions to the height of modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, which embodies a high political orientation and strategic significance.
Therefore, this reform is not limited to the traditional reform of government institutions, but also involves the CPC, the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the judiciary, institutions, mass organizations, social organizations and cross-military areas. It also involves the optimization and transfer of institutions and functions between the military and the land, as well as the relationship between institutional reform and economic development and serving the society. The reform is unprecedented.
New breakthroughs have been made in functional integration.
"Who cares about a pancake fruit?" In the past, people had to go to several departments such as food safety, quality and price to complain about this kind of urban chaos. People used "several big caps can’t control a big straw hat" to describe this phenomenon of supervision disconnection.
The newly established State Administration of Market Supervision runs through the concept of "ensuring that one department is in charge of one kind of matters in principle", and integrates the responsibilities of the original departments of industry and commerce, quality inspection, food and drug supervision, price supervision of the National Development and Reform Commission, and anti-monopoly law enforcement of the Ministry of Commerce. The goal is precisely to let the masses run once and get things done only through one window.
As far as the specific content of the institutional reform in the State Council is concerned, "optimization, coordination and high efficiency" has become the focus. Li Junpeng, a professor at the National School of Administration and director of the Public Administration Teaching and Research Department of the Department of Public Administration, summed up the highlights in four aspects when interviewed by reporters.
First, it has solved the problems in the fields of environmental protection, market supervision, medical insurance, etc., where people have the strongest voice and the most serious overlapping responsibilities, and made new breakthroughs in the integration and coordination of government functions. For example, it integrates the functions of natural resources management, ecological environment management, market supervision and management, emergency management, bank insurance supervision and management, and medical security management.
Second, new progress has been made in the reform of the large-scale department system, and a large-scale department system has been basically established to adapt to the "four comprehensive" strategic layout and large-scale system management. For example, cultural and tourism institutions are merged, legal departments and judicial departments are merged, and national tax and local taxation institutions at or below the provincial level are merged.
Third, adapting to China’s global diplomatic strategy, the strategy of "One Belt, One Road" construction and the strategy of introducing overseas talents, it has improved new functions such as international development and immigration affairs, and expanded new areas of government governance. For example, the National Immigration Bureau and China International Development Cooperation Agency established.
Fourth, the unified management of veterans, forestry and grassland has been better, which is convenient for more professional implementation. For example, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the State Forestry and Grassland Bureau were formed.
A more important highlight is that the institutional reform in the State Council is based on comprehensively strengthening the leadership of the Party and optimizing the operation of the party and government system. For example, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the State Bureau of Religious Affairs were placed under the management of the Central United Front Work Department, and the press, publication, radio, film and television administration responsibilities of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television were placed under the Central Propaganda Department. In addition, the responsibilities of the Party’s organization, politics and law, party building, education and training departments have also been optimized, and the relationship between the party and the government has been straightened out.
"Reform involves not only a new understanding of the orientation of party and government functions, but also a reasonable division of powers and responsibilities; It not only involves the reform of state administrative institutions, but also comprehensively covers the adjustment of the party’s organizational system, and even touches on deep-seated issues such as the integration and development of the party and government. " Qi Jie believes that this will give full play to the Party’s advantages in taking the overall situation into consideration and coordinating all parties, and further institutionalize it.
Strengthen the overall leadership of the party
This year coincides with the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, which makes this institutional reform more concerned.
Since the reform and opening-up, before this reform, the State Council institutions have undergone seven reforms, namely, in 1982, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013.
In the early days of reform and opening up, China is transforming from a planned economy to a market economy, and improving government efficiency has become a key issue. Before the reform in 1982, there were nearly 100 ministries, commissions, directly affiliated institutions and offices in the State Council, with more than 49,000 personnel, and at most there were more than 20 deputy ministers in a ministry. After the reform, the number of departments was reduced to 61, with 32,000 personnel.
"The purpose of the previous rounds of reforms was to change the problem that the government is in charge of everything, mainly by streamlining and compressing the number of institutions and personnel, and did not fully realize the government functions." Qi Jie said that due to the outstanding personnel contradictions, the reform effect was not obvious.
With the gradual deepening of China’s economic system reform, the reform in 1993 clearly put forward that it is necessary to establish an organization that meets the needs of the socialist market economy, with the separation of government from enterprise as the main content, so as to change the situation that the government is like an enterprise and the enterprise is like a workshop. Qi Jie said that since this reform, we have begun to realize the importance of the transformation of government functions, and the direction and pace of reform have stabilized.
Later, the focus of reform gradually shifted to strengthening and improving the government’s macro-control, paying more attention to social management and public service functions. For example, the reform in 2003 focused on solving outstanding contradictions and problems in the administrative management system; In 2008, the reform proposed to explore the large-scale system; The reform in 2013 took the reform of administrative examination and approval system as a breakthrough.
However, when all the easy things have been changed and the rest are "hard bones", institutional reform has entered a critical period. Therefore, this year’s institutional reform will focus on "optimizing synergy and efficiency".
"This year’s reform has greatly surpassed previous institutional reforms in terms of concept, scope and depth." Qi Jie said that unlike the previous institutional reforms dominated by the government system, this reform is based on comprehensively strengthening the party’s leadership and realizing the integration and development of the party and government. On the practical level, it not only focuses on the lack of government responsibilities and administrative efficiency, but also attaches great importance to the overlapping of party and government institutions, overlapping responsibilities, and separation of powers and responsibilities. In terms of organizational system, it not only pays attention to the optimization and integration of powers and responsibilities between departments, but also vertically brings the readjustment of the relationship between central and local responsibilities into the vision of reform, emphasizing the rational definition of functional allocation between levels and giving local governments more autonomy.
Summarizing the previous institutional reforms in the State Council, Li Junpeng believes that some basic logics are conveyed: First, according to the development requirements of different stages of China’s socialist modernization, keep pace with the times and accurately locate the objectives and key tasks of institutional reforms. Second, firmly grasp the core of the transformation of government functions and actively promote the reform of government institutions. Third, firmly grasp the market economy standard of "the decisive role of the market", and constantly expand the horizons and fields of simplifying administration and decentralization, strengthening supervision, and optimizing government services and public services. Fourth, we should be brave enough to break the barriers of solidification of interests and constantly push forward the government’s own reform with inward cutting edge. The fifth is to give full play to the enthusiasm of the central and local governments. The central government has introduced the top-level design principle plan for reform, and local governments have explored first and accumulated experience in the reform.
A lot of experience has also been accumulated in the process of institutional reform. For example, we should proceed from the reality of China and give full consideration to the problems at all stages. For example, scientifically locate government functions. For example, in the face of problems, difficulties and obstacles to reform, especially when the reform enters a critical period and a deep-water period, it is even more necessary to comprehensively strengthen the party’s leadership. "These are the magic weapons for us to further deepen reform." Yan Jie said.
发挥好制度优势
方案确定了改革落地的时间表：中央和国家机关机构改革要在2018年底前落实到位。
3月28日，中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席、中央全面深化改革委员会主任最高领袖主持召开中央全面深化改革委员会第一次会议时强调，深化党和国家机构改革全面启动，标志着全面深化改革进入了一个新阶段，改革将进一步触及深层次利益格局的调整和制度体系的变革，改革的复杂性、敏感性、艰巨性更加突出，要加强和改善党对全面深化改革统筹领导，紧密结合深化机构改革推动改革工作。
如何破除思想藩篱？如何调整固化利益格局？如何有效加强系统性和协同性？如何巩固改革成果？……这些都是推进此次机构改革面临的挑战，有的还是始终存在的问题。
“机构改革要在结构、功能和文化等方面实现深度融合。”贠杰认为，结构方面，这不是简单的机构合并，而是要实现党政融合发展。功能方面，机构职能要优化调整，同时实现机构间协调高效和高执行力。文化方面，要破除一些部门人员等待观望、生搬硬套、本位主义等思想认识藩篱。
In the process of reform, it is also crucial to clarify the reform objectives. In the west, building a "limited government" has become the mainstream, while China aims to build a service-oriented government. This plan proposes to strengthen and improve the government’s functions of economic regulation, market supervision, social management, public services and ecological environment protection, build a government governance system with clear responsibilities and administration according to law, and accelerate the construction of a service-oriented government that the people are satisfied with.
In Qi Jie’s view, the government management and service functions are not an antagonistic relationship, but an integrated relationship. A service-oriented government or an effective government should be established through the transformation of government functions, "to be scientific and do whatever you want." In other words, what should be managed must be managed, and what should not be managed must be ignored. "
Qi Jie said that due to the different political attributes between China and western countries, the government functions are also different. For example, the integration of the party and government and the high executive power proposed in this reform are not available in western countries. "This is our characteristic. To turn these characteristics into advantages, we must achieve it through the systematicness and synergy of institutional reform. " He specifically suggested that we should further strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the party, attach importance to top-level design and overall planning, clarify the methods, steps and measures, improve the evaluation and supervision mechanism, and ensure that institutional reform is carried out smoothly, orderly and efficiently along the right track.