China announces big overhaul of ministries

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#1
Change soup but not the ingredients. We have seen it all in Malaysia but the way wealth disappears into invisible hands remains unchanged.

China announces big overhaul of ministries

Published on Mar 11, 2013

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By Grace Ng China Correspondent

BEIJING - China is planning what could be the biggest overhaul of its government bodies in a decade, abolishing its debt-laden Railways Ministry while reorganising agencies in charge of key areas like oceanic resources, energy and food safety.

The changes will bring China's once-bloated bureaucracy down to 25 ministries, as Communist Party chief Xi Jinping and incoming Premier Li Keqiang seek to root out graft and inefficiency while boosting control over sectors of strategic importance.

"The reorganisation, which involves raising the status of some ministries like Food Safety and Maritime Law Enforcement while lowering others, reflects the top leaders' new priorities," said China University of Political Science and Law professor Liu Junsheng.

Beijing is dismantling the Railways Ministry, hiving off its regulatory role to the Transport Ministry and its operations to a new state-linked company.

Experts like China Governance Academy professor Wang Wei say this long-awaited change allows China to coordinate road, water, air and rail transport better, improving ease of travel.

Meanwhile, a so-called "super ministry" to oversee food and drug safety - a top public concern - will be formed.

Another key merger involves combining agencies for fisheries and maritime law. This comes as China asserts its rights over disputed territory in the East and South China seas with neighbours like Japan and Vietnam.

"In order to strengthen the protection and use of oceanic resources (and) secure the country's rights and interests, there is a need to integrate maritime law enforcement powers," State Councillor Ma Kai said yesterday.

He was presenting the government re-alignment plan to the national legislature. In all, four agencies will be cut, reducing the total number of ministry-level bodies by two from 27 in 2008.

This will be China's seventh round of restructuring over 30 years. Former economic tsar Zhu Rongji took one of the most drastic actions in 1998 by chopping 40 ministries down to 29.

But since then, reforms have slowed. The last round in 2008 cut six agencies, but added five "super-ministries".

This time, Mr Xi has merged the family planning commission, once an influential body handling China's one-child policy, into a new body with the Health Ministry. This reflects the top leaders' shifting focus, said Prof Liu.

Meanwhile, areas like energy have taken on greater importance. The National Energy Administration will be merged with an agency setting electricity rates, hopefully to make prices more market-oriented.

But some other hoped-for reforms did not materialise.

China's two media regulators were merged, contrary to speculation that they would come under the Ministry of Culture to pare down the state's role in this sector. Also, the National Development and Reform Commission, which faces calls for a roll-back of its extensive powers, was not mentioned yesterday.

This prompted some analysts such as economist Xu Xiaonan to voice scepticism about whether Beijing is serious about restructuring. The plan is like "a trick that blows hot and cold", he wrote on his microblog yesterday.
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#2
lol you are right, like the malaysians will say new people are just coming in to run the graft. Reducing ministries might mean more grease to go around.

The worst is in india, my india colleague got married and wanted to bring his new wife over but application was stalled so he called up the department and enquired about his wife's visa application and the tea boy there over the phone advised him that to get an approval stamp for the application to move from 1 desk to the next will need around 100 rupees and there are around 5 stamps of approvals or just pay a "package" of around 350+ rupees to expedite the whole thing. Big Grin
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#3
Chinese companies will continue to be as "corrupted" as they are, whether it is 10 ministries or 100 ministries...
that is why China will never rise its head above US to be the next super-power.. it is still a far cry from it...
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#4
I have different view on the changes

I will not view it from perspective of anti-corruption, but from streamlining operations and re-structuring to improve efficiency, at least on the operating expenses.

Further into it, restructuring will help in future anti-corruption effort (if any). E.g. of Railways Ministry which current structure is corruption-prone.
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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#5
It is tough to weed out corruption in China. Corruption in China has a history since the the first dynasty.
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#6
(12-03-2013, 12:11 AM)a74henry Wrote: It is tough to weed out corruption in China. Corruption in China has a history since the the first dynasty.

Yes, agree. It is close to impossible to weed out completely, even in Singapore and Hong Kong with decades of effort.

But it doesn't mean it is not worth for the effort, we should give credit for the initiative Big Grin
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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#7
Anyone getting onto S-chips (with links to Govt) - pls read the latest Edge Mag article on Page 6 - Interview with Andy Xie.
Xie had previously derided Spore as a money-laundering centre for Indonesian and ASEAN. He had never called something a bubble that turned out not to be a bubble...

In essence, China has been moving money into fixed asset investments with no returns, and Xie believed that the main motivation of moving the money to these fixed assets is corruption. Over the last 4 or 5 yrs in China, corruption has in fact skyrocketed. Fixed asset investments in the name of stimulus are actually driven by corruption opportunities.


Overcapacity is only a symptom of the mis-allocation of resources into projects with little or no returns.
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#8
This is a tough issue to solve to restructure Railways Ministry, the debt...Big Grin

China not yet decided on railways debt, says official

BEIJING — China has not yet decided who will take on the heavy debt load of the Railways Ministry, a senior official said yesterday, a day after the government announced it was dissolving the scandal-plagued ministry.

The railway restructuring plan, issued during China’s annual National People’s Congress (NPC), is designed to end long-standing inefficiencies and address the ministry’s reputation for insularity and corruption.

http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/ch...s-official
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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#9
(12-03-2013, 09:22 AM)Stockerman Wrote: Anyone getting onto S-chips (with links to Govt) - pls read the latest Edge Mag article on Page 6 - Interview with Andy Xie.
Xie had previously derided Spore as a money-laundering centre for Indonesian and ASEAN. He had never called something a bubble that turned out not to be a bubble...

In essence, China has been moving money into fixed asset investments with no returns, and Xie believed that the main motivation of moving the money to these fixed assets is corruption. Over the last 4 or 5 yrs in China, corruption has in fact skyrocketed. Fixed asset investments in the name of stimulus are actually driven by corruption opportunities.


Overcapacity is only a symptom of the mis-allocation of resources into projects with little or no returns.

I like to read this Andy xie commentary. So personnel and so full of hidden agenda and always predicted wrongly yet so logical.
The thing about karma, It always comes around and bite you when you least expected.
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#10
(12-03-2013, 09:41 AM)WolfT Wrote:
(12-03-2013, 09:22 AM)Stockerman Wrote: Anyone getting onto S-chips (with links to Govt) - pls read the latest Edge Mag article on Page 6 - Interview with Andy Xie.
Xie had previously derided Spore as a money-laundering centre for Indonesian and ASEAN. He had never called something a bubble that turned out not to be a bubble...

In essence, China has been moving money into fixed asset investments with no returns, and Xie believed that the main motivation of moving the money to these fixed assets is corruption. Over the last 4 or 5 yrs in China, corruption has in fact skyrocketed. Fixed asset investments in the name of stimulus are actually driven by corruption opportunities.


Overcapacity is only a symptom of the mis-allocation of resources into projects with little or no returns.

I like to read this Andy xie commentary. So personnel and so full of hidden agenda and always predicted wrongly yet so logical.

"看图说故事" is a game where people tell a story out of pictures. The stories may sound very real and logical, but it doesn't mean it is the real story behind the pictures.
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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