Public lauds disclosure of government 'power lists'

Ministries' approvals to be published online to encourage entrepreneurs

China's public and media are praising the central government's recent order to its departments to disclose their "power lists" — registers of their administrative approvals.

All central ministries, commissions and administrations should publish their administrative approvals on their official websites in a bid to boost transparency, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said in a circular issued on Thursday.

The government should reform its administration, and the central departments will not be allowed to interfere in the approval of items not included in their own registers, the circular said.

As of Sunday afternoon, most of the State Council's departments have put their power lists on the front pages of their official websites. The departments also publicized their telephone numbers to solicit public opinion.

Among the departments, the State Administration of Taxation ranked highest with 87 administrative approvals, while some departments have only one, such as the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The move to publicize power lists has won applause from the media as well as the people, the central government said on its website on Saturday.

Zhou Zhiren, a professor of public administration with Peking University, told Beijing Business Today that by disclosing power lists, the public will be able to supervise the government more effectively.

Xu Binxiong, an employee at an enterprise financed by Taiwan businesspeople in Anshan, Liaoning province, told Xinhua News Agency that it used to take him a year to have a project approved by the government, and now it takes him only a month.

Putting the power lists in the spotlight is the first step for the government to improve its system of administrative approval, and it is also a standard international practice, China Business News said in an editorial.

The practice of disclosing power lists comes amid the central authorities' drive to slash red tape. The central government has cut or delegated to lower governments nearly 400 administrative approval items since the new leadership was elected during the session of the National People's Congress in March 2013.

The National Railway Administration said on its website that it canceled 11 approval items last year and kept only eight, including naming a railway station and approving a railway route.

The Ministry of Culture said that it has kept only four approval items from the previous 13, with three approval items canceled and six others delegated to provincial culture authorities.

On Feb 18, Premier Li Keqiang said at a seminar attended by leading provincial and ministerial officials that all levels of government should gradually establish the mechanism of disclosing their power lists.

The government of Zhejiang province has announced that it will promote a "government power menu" system this year. The Anhui provincial government has asked local departments to "draw a diagram displaying the operation of power" in a pilot reform program.

"Reform of administrative approval items is crucial to the central government's ongoing reform package," said Wang Yukai, a professor of public administration with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Canceling administrative approval items is expected to encourage entrepreneurship and prevent the government from interference in the market, he said.