China makes efforts to reinvent govt in process of reform: official

China is making efforts to reinvent its government and making it more transparent in the process of reform and opening-up, said Hua Jianmin, state councilor and secretary general of the State Council of China.

Hua made the remarks on Tuesday in Seoul in the first session of the Sixth Global Forum on Reinventing Government.

"China has experienced a historic period of rapid growth since it began its reform and opening-up program in the late 1970s ... The economy is much more market-oriented, and the government is changing, in a positive direction," Hua said in the session, whose theme was "Changing Role of the State in the Governance Paradigm."

Hua said China regards reinventing and developing the government as an important part of its efforts on economic and political restructuring and building democracy and the legal system.

Hua said that in order to realize transformation of government functions, China has separated the functions of government from those of enterprises and given greater scope to the fundamental role of the market in the allocation of resources.

China has conducted government institutional reform since early 1980s. "As a result, the number of departments under the central government has been gradually reduced from 53 to 28," said Hua.

Moreover, China has institutionalized collective decision- making, expert advising, public notification and hearing and accountability for decision-making, Hua pointed out.

And China is trying to build law-based administration, conduct innovation in government management and enhance administrative supervision.

"Facts have proven that reinventing government is the key to improving the socialist market economy and promoting China's modernization," stressed Hua.

"China will continue to deepen the reform of the administrative management and hasten the formation of a management system that is well regulated, well coordinated, fair, transparent, honest and efficient," Hua promised.

The Chinese senior official said the main theme of this year's forum, "Toward Participatory and Transparent Governance," coincides with the priority agenda in the governmental reform in China.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to and vigorously pushes for more openness in government affairs, said Hua.

"Openness in government affairs is a key link in modern governance structure. We will remain committed to an 'open government' in accordance with the principle of 'law-based' transparency, truth and impartiality, practicability and conduciveness to oversight," said Hua.

Hua also expressed his appreciation to the forum, saying it plays a positive role by providing an excellent platform for countries to share experiences on reinventing government and conduct in-depth discussions on related issues.

The Chinese senior official stressed at the end of his speech that it is vital to fully respect other countries' right to choose independently their road to development and measures for government reform.

The Global Forum on Reinventing Government kicked off its four- day run at Seoul's Convention and Exhibition Center. More than 5, 000 representatives from 140 countries and renowned international organizations are here for the forum.

Source: Xinhua