Restructuring to benefit public

The Communist Party of China Central Committee released the plan for the restructuring of Party and State institutions on Wednesday.

Looking back over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up shows that the fundamental principle driving reforms has been "people-centeredness", and every reform has seen an improvement in people's livelihoods.

As early as 1988, the transformation of government functions helped to better serve the people. Five years later, an administrative management system suiting the socialist market economy was established, and in 2008, the ministries were reformed to better improve the livelihoods of ordinary people.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the Party and State have never ceased advancing necessary reforms to meet the needs of the times. For example, with the coming of the digital age, the central leadership founded a leading group on network security and information technology in February 2014 to better uphold cybersecurity. And a new National Supervisory Commission is to be established to further fight corruption and root it out.

Some have described the reforms as keys that open different locks in different decades. This is why the reforms are never ending.

The latest restructuring plan is aimed at making Party and State institutions better suited to the needs of the times. For example, a Ministry of Natural Resources is to be created as part of the latest institutional reforms to consolidate the natural resources protection responsibilities currently held by a number of ministries and commissions.

Forty years ago, the Party's leaders launched the reform and opening-up era, today China is accelerating its reform drive once again so the Party and government can better serve the people.