Power 'caged' for better governance

A new item will be added to the list of tasks the State Council, China's Cabinet, should report to the Standing Committee of National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, as part of the latest efforts to place executive power under more scrutiny. On Monday, the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee adopted a reform project that urges the State Council to report State-owned assets' management to the Standing Committee of the NPC.

Apart from introducing more transparent management of State-owned assets, the reform measure is an example of enhanced supervision by the legislature.

In August 2015, the leading group adopted a policy asking the State Council to report to the NPC Standing Committee how it deals with problems exposed by auditing. The mechanism, which enables the NPC and its standing committee to regularly examine the central government's work, has helped realize the legislature's constitutional power to supervise the government.