China's approach to ensure integrity and fairness in grassroots governance

People have to contact grassroots-level governments almost every day. From pension payments to driver's license applications, from property registration to resolving traffic accident disputes, the official actions of these governments are closely related to the daily lives of the people.

Whether they can serve the people with integrity and impartiality directly affects the people's sense of happiness and is the most direct reference point for the people to judge governments at all levels.

On the other hand, the daily official actions of these governments often take place in rural areas far from central cities and major supervisory bodies, and many official actions are not documented.

Faced with the complex and vibrant social life, and even lacking clear legal and regulatory guidance, supervising these actions has long been a challenge, and the abuse of power and corruption in grassroots official activities are even more difficult to address.

To this end, the Communist Party of China and the central government attach great importance to curbing and combating corruption and abuse of power by grassroots-level governments, and have been committed to eliminating negative and corrupt phenomena around the people, striving to ensure that the people feel a sense of integrity and honesty in their daily lives.

The biggest victims of corruption at the grassroots level are ordinary people, who are also the primary informants.

Therefore, under the Party's leadership, the most reliable force in combating grassroots corruption is the public.

It is essential to fully mobilize the power of the people, continuously establish and improve mechanisms for public oversight and utilize the power of the masses to address corruption affecting them.

For example, governments at all levels in China have generally established the 12345 hotline, which provides the public with an immediate response to complaints.

Workers of the hotline promptly forward these complaints and reports to relevant departments.

The handling of these complaints and reports by grassroots-level governments and the satisfaction of complainants are important indicators of their performance evaluation.

This compels these governments to act in accordance with the law and provide clean and honest service when dealing with the public; otherwise, they will be subject to complaints and reports, affecting their performance evaluation.

In some places, the number and handling status of complaints and reports are used to rank government departments.

This further compels grassroots-level governments to act in accordance with the law and provide clean and honest service when dealing with the public, significantly promoting the improvement of grassroots government work style and the level of integrity and fairness in service.

Abuse of power and corruption at the grassroots level often involve small sums of money. Due to limited office conditions, many official actions lack detailed written records.

Furthermore, many grassroots-level government activities occur far from major cities and supervisory bodies, making oversight difficult. These difficulties ultimately stem from an "information asymmetry" or "information gap" between grassroots-level governments and higher-level governments and supervisory bodies.

Currently, the development of digital technologies provides powerful tools for power supervision.

Higher-level governments and supervisory bodies have significantly improved their oversight of grassroots-level governments.

For example, various regions are currently vigorously building digital platforms for administrative law enforcement, which can store official activities electronically in real-time, readily available for oversight by all parties.

It is essential to establish a comprehensive system for power supervision and anti-corruption to prevent corruption and abuse of power at the grassroots level.

For example, the Chinese government is vigorously promoting the establishment and public disclosure of local governments' lists of power, responsibility, public services, fees and administrative procedures.

For each public power exercised by local governments, the specific agency exercising that power, the responsible person, the legal basis and procedures for exercising that power, channels for appealing dissatisfaction with the exercise of power, and relevant fee items and standards must be made public.

This ensures that the people in the jurisdiction clearly understand what local governments can do, should do, and how they should do it, as well as which agency to contact for complaints if they are dissatisfied with local governments.

This establishes specific standards for relevant local government staff before the exercise of power, prompting them to administer according to law and effectively reducing corruption and abuse of power.

For example, the Chinese government requires officials to carry law enforcement qualification certificates during law enforcement operations, to proactively present these certificates to those being enforced against and to record the entire law enforcement process using audio and video equipment, uploading these materials to a digital law enforcement platform.

This effectively reduces corruption and abuse of power in grassroots law enforcement.

The official activities of grassroots governments are closely related to the lives of ordinary people, and the public should be informed about information regarding the exercise of power.

This is essential for enabling society to supervise the government and effectively prevent corruption and abuse of power at the grassroots level.

To this end, the Chinese government has formulated and promulgated a regulation, stipulating that administrative organs shall proactively disclose government information that involves adjustments to public interests, requires broad public awareness, or requires public participation in decision-making.

In addition, the regulation also stipulates that the public has the right to apply to the government for the disclosure of government information of interest to them.

Except for information that cannot be disclosed according to laws and regulations, the government should try its best to meet the applicant's information disclosure needs.

These efforts to disclose this information have greatly enhanced the transparency of the power operation process of grassroots-level governments and self-governing organizations, effectively promoting society supervision of grassroots governments, curbing corruption and abuse of power at the grassroots level, and allowing the public to experience integrity and honesty in their daily lives.

The author is a professor of politics and law at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.