Leaders take 'bold' actions

Soundbite

"The government needs to make decision-makers, executors and supervisors independent from each other, yet able to restrict each other. The central government should carry out institutional reform to increase its work efficiency. The administrative system should become more professional and its reform should be accelerated. In addition, the authority of the independent supervisors must be ensured so that they can monitor the decision-makers and executors."

Chi Fulin, president of China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development

"When the government transforms its functions, it should not ignore the key points of its job; for example, making new jobs, protecting laborers' legal interests, adjusting national wealth distribution, improving the social security network, eliminating poverty and boosting domestic consumption. All of these jobs should tilt to the disadvantaged groups of people and cannot be done by any other party singlehandedly. The government should strengthen its roles in these fields. The most difficult part of the transformation of government function is to reconstruct the government's values and to decentralize the government's powers. The government should be a clean organ ruled by law, with a strong sense of responsibility, and serve the public's interests."

Zhu Lijia, professor at Chinese Academy of Governance

"The market, enterprises and social organization cannot replace the government's roles in building a pension system, healthcare network and infrastructure constructions, and providing other basic public services. These responsibilities must be undertaken by the government."

Song Xiaowu, chairman of the China Society of Economic Reform

"Past experience has shown that the central government's restructuring plans sometimes meet local resistance, as they can weaken administrative power. This time, the situation might be different because the central government has already put up a timetable and a task list, and Premier Li stressed that officials who failed to carry out the plan should be held accountable. A successful government function transformation should be accompanied by a decrease in government employees and well-coordinated work among different administrative organs. Related laws and regulations should also be revised to fit the new administrative structure."

Mao Shoulong, professor at Renmin University of China's Public Administration and Policy School

"Except for allowing the market to play a bigger role, this round of government reform is also characterized by delegating administrative power to social groups. The legislation of social organizations should be speeded up to clarify the rights and responsibility of a social group, in a bid to boost its use in society and to prevent misuse of power."

Wang Baoming, administrative law professor at Chinese Academy of Governance

"The power of reviewing and approving public projects has offered many opportunities to corrupt officials. Fewer approval procedures means fewer possibilities for taking bribes for corrupt officials. For many officials, it feels like someone is cutting their flesh."

Jiang Ming'an, law professor at Peking University