China to improve official appraisal system with greater democracy: official

Chinese civil servants will be evaluated in an improved and more democratic way, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) said Thursday.

Yang Shiqiu, Vice Minister of the MHRSS, said at a ministry work conference that consumers of government services would be invited to participate in the yearly evaluation of civil servants, with questionnaires, symposiums and one-to-one interviews, in order to promote democracy in the appraisal of government officials.

The promotion, education, reward and punishment of civil servants should be conducted in accordance with their evaluation results, said Yang, also deputy head of China's State Administration of Civil Service.

He also noted that appraisal of civil servants should focus more on their "moral qualities" than on their job performance.

Authorities would strengthen supervision of official evaluations to root out misconduct during the process, he said.

The government and the Communist Party of China (CPC) have repeatedly called for improvements to the evaluation system for government and Party officials this year.

A document issued by the CPC in late October said an improved official evaluation system was "vital to the scientific development of the country."

Officials should be assessed on a yearly basis in addition to during and after accomplishing major tasks, the documents said. They should also be evaluated when they end their terms and when promoted.

Source: Xinhua