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Deepening rule of law

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-23 07:06

Various attempts have been made to modernize the problematic chain of command. But none has been as impressive as the State Council's latest initiative to upgrade governance at the county and city levels.

In fact, this could well be the first reform package meant to substantially redefine the way local affairs are managed in grassroots China.

Governments at county and city levels are the closest to, though they themselves are not, the basic network of the national administrative establishments. Below them there still are the truly grassroots township governments.

But the majority of local administrative regulations governing major issues of public concern are made at such levels. At the same time, most civil disputes are supposed to be resolved at such levels.

The State Council document was right in stating that both the key links and the most challenging tasks in promoting "governance in accordance with the law" lie at such levels. Counties and cities are a sensible starting point for ensuring the flow of smooth two-way information in the communication between higher-level governments and the general public, as well as for reducing policy distortion.

The decree includes no clauses on changes in the layout of government organs at the designated levels. Yet the solutions prescribed, once executed to their letter and, may lead to changes no cosmetic adjustments in the administrative structures can aspire to.

The requirement that county and city governments hold public hearings for all major decisions on issues of public concern, for instance, indicates an inspiring commitment to transparency, which is lacking at local levels. And the document does not stop at a hollow slogan in imposing that obligation. It goes into details about how the hearings should be organized.

No wonder the clause on public hearings has stolen the limelight in media coverage.

But it is not some specific provisions that are the most impressive thing about the document. It is rather the idea to inject awareness of the law in government functionaries, and that to enhance their capabilities to carry out their duties within the boundaries of the law that we believe will have far-reaching impacts.

Together, the proposals to introduce collective decision-making, legitimacy tests for major decisions, post-execution appraisals, and mechanisms to fix accountability constitute an all-round prescription that public officials have a mandate to rule by law.

This new decree makes it unambiguously clear they are nowhere above or beyond the law.

(China Daily 06/23/2008 page4)