Cut government documents to fit the law

A mature government should not rely on documents to rule the country, but on laws, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. Excerpts:

Premier Li Keqiang stressed the urgency of cutting administrative approvals and reducing excessive government interference in society and the market.

Yet, one practical way to realize the two purposes is to reduce the number of documents issued by governments of various levels.

Some local governments have developed an unwritten rule that documents issued by higher authorities are comparable to laws. Sometimes, when the documents breach the laws, the lower level governments would rather abide by the documents than defend the dignity of the laws, because the lower level officials' promotions and a considerable part of local government income are decided by higher authorities.

If the central government really wants to treat local government reliance on documents, it should reform the evaluation system of officials and decentralize decision-making power, instead of concentrating power in the hands of one or two people.

Second, the central government should seek more advice from the public while making public policies or issuing documents concerning public interest, which will save a lot of trouble for local governments while implementing documents according to local conditions.

Third, the people must have an effective means to give feedback to the government when they find the documents are irrational or break relevant laws. According to the Chinese legal framework, the National People's Congress and people's congresses of various levels have the power to do so, but they have not fulfilled this responsibility well so far.