More reforms needed to end bureaucratism in government

A little over a month after Wu Hai, the CEO of Orange Hotel, wrote an open letter to Premier Li Keqiang explaining the difficulties presented by official paperwork, the State Council, China's cabinet, met to discuss how to simplify administrative procedures, while several ministries promised to make more efforts. Comments:

It has been years since the top leadership first promised to simplify the administrative procedures, but officials at all levels have chosen to turn a deaf ear to the call because the more approval power they have the more illicit profit they can make. Higher authorities need to not only set the rules, but also introduce effective supervision so that lower officials can be punished if they try to resist the trend of simplifying procedures. More importantly, market-oriented reform must be accelerated so that some government agencies lose their functions.

people.com.cn, May 18