Only several days after China's former environmental protection czar resigned for dereliction of duty, Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone in southern Guangdong Province, has started a system of accountability for administrators.

The supervision mechanism includes 34 cases in which an official concerned should take responsibility, ranging from nepotism to faults in major decision making.

Earlier this month when the responsibility system started, a set of detailed measures to beef up accountability were also promulgated in Shenzhen.

According to Huang Weijian, spokesperson for the municipal supervision bureau of Shenzhen, the establishment of a responsibility system for administrators can be seen as a breakthrough in using an institutional method to standardize officials' conduct.

It is a third channel for supervision besides disciplinary measures and legal instruments, Huang added.

"The accountability system requires administrators to take certain responsibilities when they are granted certain power and helps enhance the supervision by the public," Huang commented.

Accountability has been a controversial topic in China this year.

Last month, Xie Zhenhua, the former head of China's State administration of Environmental Protection, handed in a letter of resignation for dereliction of duty in a water contamination accident in northeast China.

A benzene-plant explosion in Jilin City of Jilin Province dumped nearly 100 tons of carcinogenic chemicals into the Songhua River, a source of drinking water for nearly 3.8 million downstream residents in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province.

Xie blamed himself for delaying the the revelation of facts surrounding the accident.

Xie was the first ministerial-level official to resign after China enacted a law governing civil servants in April this year. Health Ministers Zhang Wenkang and Meng Xuenong, former vice mayor of Beijing, were removed from office last year, due to misconduct during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Ma fuci, former chairman of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), one of China's two leading onshore oil producers, was also sacked.

Sympathizing with 56-year-old Xie, who had served in China's environmental protection for 23 years, public opinion affirmed his courage to take responsibility and thought that his decision demonstrated the Chinese Government's resolve to ensure accountability and transparency through supervision.

Complaints had been on the rise about the poor road situation in an outskirtan county of Chongqing municipality in southwestern China, but little change had been made until Qin Shengcheng, head of local communications authority, was suspended in June due to neglect.

Upon the suspension, the highway was restored by the authority in three months. After the project passed appraisal and local residents said they were satisfied about the status of the highway, Qin was allowed to return to his post in October.

Luo Bin, a farmer at Sangtuo Town of Pengshui County, southwestern Chongqing Municipality, who had had to give up his passenger transport business due to highway deterioration, was able to resumed his passenger transport business and is considering buying another vehicle to run cargo.

"I used to think I could only swallow the lousy luck silently. I did not expect the issue would be resolved so quickly. My business has become better, thanks to the accountability system," he said.

Chongqing began to employ a responsibility mechanism targeted at officials in July 2004, which was the first in the form of a local government rule on the Chinese mainland. The city has since initiated accountability procedures for against 49 local officials.

Before Shenzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Huadian City of northeastern Jilin Province and Chengdu, capital city of southwestern Sichuan Province, had followed the suit.

Professor Wang Xuehui, vice president of the administration institute of the Southwest China University of Politics and Law, which is based in Chongqing, said, "Accountability is the basic requirement of a modern responsible government. Its improvement displays China's resolve in building a responsible, service-oriented, and responsible government."

"To further beef up accountability and transparency in China, such problems as who should take responsibility and who will be authorized to demand somebody else to account should be addressed properly," Wang added.

Source: Xinhua