Improve efficiency by reforming local government

The disciplinary watchdog of the central committee of the Communist Party of China circulated a notice of criticism of six cases that violated the central government's eight-point rules on improving government work efficiency and saving costs. This unusual notice demonstrates the central authority's resolve to carry out its reforms. But the real challenge is to turn the flashy movement to a long-term mechanism that forces government officials to behave themselves, says an editorial in China Business News. Excerpts:

Rivalry between the central and local governments has long been a characteristic of China's government system. As the saying goes, there are always countermeasures from local governments to orders from the central authority.

The success of a strategy or a policy depends on the cooperation of governments on various levels. The disciplinary authority's criticism notice can be taken as a high-profile signal that shows the central government's determination to ensure local governments follow its decisions — not just the soft eight-point reform rules, but the other policies and strategies issued by the central government as well.

Local governments also have reasons to explain their countermeasures. Central government policies should be adapted to local conditions, and that adaptation is supposed to be done by local governments. When adaptation works and implementation yields good results, the merits mainly go to the central government, but when something goes wrong, it is always the local governments that take the blame.

Transforming government functions requires government reform that includes not only ministry reshuffling at the central government level, but also the streamlining of local government branches. The central government should make more well-targeted policies for local governments to implement.