China to wage battle against bureaucracy

BEIJING —  China usually doesn’t like to air its dirty laundry. But when fighting a wily foe, in this case its own well-entrenched bureaucrats, the leadership isn’t above a bit of guerrilla warfare.

Recently, the China Youth Daily, a mainstream Communist Party newspaper affiliated with President Hu Jintao’s power base, released an online survey that found more than 90% of Chinese were fed up with inefficiency and bureaucratic muddle.

The party hopes public shaming will bolster its bid to reconfigure a tangle of overlapping ministries, which have been outpaced by a fast-changing society and economy. The largely symbolic National People’s Congress, which opened its annual two-week session today, is expected to approve proposals on government reform from the senior Communist leadership.

Instead of a dry exercise in government restructuring, this effort could have global implications -- particularly if it pushes China to become more energy efficient.

In an opening speech before nearly 3,000 delegates this morning, Premier Wen Jiabao called for comprehensive ministry reform to “change the way the government functions.” He released no details, a common tactic here to leave maximum room for negotiations.

But Ta Kung Pao, a mainland-run newspaper in Hong Kong, reported earlier that the Communist Party plans four “super ministries” overseeing energy, transportation, finance and the environment, reducing the number of ministries to around 20 from 28. In his speech, Wen also emphasized the importance of the Olympics and urged continued vigilance to ensure that Taiwan doesn’t declare independence.

Even the mighty Communist Party may have met its match, however. Vested interests are fighting back.

“It’s the same anywhere in the world,” said Wang Yukai, a professor with Beijing’s National School of Administration. “It’s always an enormous challenge to pare government officials.”

China is an enormous and rapidly growing consumer of oil, coal and other natural resources. It is on target to surpass the U.S. this year as the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, although it still uses a fraction of the energy America does on a per-capita basis.

What’s more, China’s rapidly developing economy, which has imported many energy-intensive industries from the West, has become less energy efficient. Experts say it needs an energy policy that chips away at wasteful vested interests, as well as a pricing system that encourages conservation. At present, the energy portfolio is handled by separate coal, gas, oil and electricity ministries in addition to the powerful National Development and Reform Commission and the National Assets Committee.

Many welcome reports that the People’s Congress will upgrade China’s toothless State Environmental Protection Administration to a ministry with more funding and staff. But economic growth is regarded as essential for social stability -- and for keeping the Communist Party in power -- cementing the power of ministries overseeing the economy, finance and natural resources.

Far better for the environment than a few more bureaucrats, experts say, would be a more rational energy strategy.

“If they can improve the transportation system and use energy more efficiently, it will have a huge environmental benefit,” said Philip Andrews-Speed, a professor of energy policy at Scotland’s University of Dundee.

Even as the Communist Party attempts to reorganize the government, however, it is steering clear of political reform that would limit its power, a step many analysts believe is essential if it is to come to grips with corruption.

In a report issued before this week’s congress, the People’s Daily also cited the importance of political reform, but few expect rapid progress.

China’s latest lesson in the cost of bloated, turf-conscious bureaucracies came in January. A snowstorm battered usually temperate central and eastern China on the eve of the Chinese New Year, killing dozens of people, leaving billions in economic damage and stranding millions of migrant workers trying to get home for the most important holiday of the year.

“This was not a simple natural disaster,” said Gu Linsheng, a professor with the Emergency Management Center at Beijing’s Qinghua University. “It exposed huge problems in our government structure and national economy.”

Coal prices rose in response to shortages. But power plants, unable to raise prices, declined to produce more electricity. In other sectors, financial aid and emergency personnel were slow to arrive and local governments dragged their feet.

There also have been shortages of pork, China’s meat of choice. Efforts to increase production have been frustrated by a tangle of competing agencies, including health, agriculture, quality control, industry and commerce, food and drugs and the environment.

Not only do many of these enforce competing standards but they also tend to focus on punishing wrongdoers, experts say, rather than on preventing problems. This has given rise to a popular saying: “Eight ministries can’t take care of one pig.”

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Wu Yixiu of The Times’ Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.