Embarrassing turf war

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-05 08:40

It is rare for such a turf war to take place between central government departments. And it is urgent for the regulatory agencies involved to define the boundary of their responsibility.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) decided on Monday to suspend its approval of the World of WarCraft online game. The game has more than 1 million players on the Chinese mainland. However, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) opened fire at GAPP, saying its decision was "an act out of bounds".

GAPP immediately responded by saying that its decision was an unofficial attitude based on legal grounds as the State Council's circular issued last July authorized the GAPP to see to online games before they get a certificate from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The State Council circular declared that the MOC was in charge of regulating the multi-billion dollar online gaming industry. And authorities from MOC were quoted as saying that it has already examined the content of the game and approved Netease.com's application for the operation of the game. And it is definitely legal for the portal to run the game.

Now it is not important whether the running of the online game is legal or illegal. What makes the issue complicated is how two central government regulatory agencies can be at conflict over their respective responsibilities.

GAPP had previously been in charge of regulating the online gaming industry before the State Council's circular in July. That is where the problem is. Why did the circular put MOC in charge of the gaming industry? And why is there no clear defining of the responsibility boundaries between the two departments?

It is an embarrassment to the central government. If there is any reason for the shift of the responsibility from GAPP to MOC, there should have been proper coordination to draw a clear line between the jobs of the two departments.

As far as the World of Warcrft online game is concerned, what really matters is whether there is any problem with the content of the game and whether the portal Netease is qualified to run the game. If there is nothing wrong with the game's content, and with Netease, why this fuss?

If it is simply because of the dispute on the turf of responsibility that GAPP made the decision, we have enough reason to see it as a typical bureaucratic act, which puts departmental interest over public interest.

To be frank, it is not a tough job to define the boundary of responsibility between the two agencies on this matter. It is an elephant in the room. We don't know if there is any departmental interest involved. If there were any, it would definitely be a different issue and needs to be investigated.

Now it is urgent that the two agencies reach a consensus on the matter before it becomes a scandal and tars the reputation of the government.

The central government should learn a lesson that clear demarcation of responsibility between different departments is necessary to avoid turf war.

(China Daily 11/05/2009 page8)