Role change seen for local government

Premier Li Keqiang has stressed that government should match its words with deeds, and the State Council's resolutions must be strictly enforced. An accountability system must be in place to supervise officials of various levels, says an editorial in the 21st Century Business Herald. Excerpts:

Li's warning is directed at some local governments that do not implement the central government's policies seriously, a situation that affects the efficiency of the entire government system. How to deal with the tricky relations between the central and local governments is a big challenge for China's new central government.

As Li said emotionally in his first news conference as premier, the Chinese government must overcome the opposition of vested interest groups to push China's reforms ahead. In this context, it is natural for the Cabinet chief to consolidate the authority of the central government by enforcing the accountability system to make local officials respect the central authority and implement the central government's orders and policies without hesitation.

The transformation of the Chinese government refers to not only the role changes from administration authorities to public service providers, but also the improvement of relations between the central and local governments.

The latter task may be more urgent because whether the first task can be accomplished depends upon it. The first 30 years of reform and development of China benefit from the governments' innovation and local governments' considerable freedoms to adapt the central government's policies to their local practical conditions.

But the future reform and development of China cannot repeat that model again because the primary target over the following decades is no longer to encourage some people to get rich first, but to distribute national wealth more fairly. In this process, the central government must establish its authority and play up the roles of society and market to cut local governments' power as administrations and promote their roles as public service providers.