China Streamlines Maoist Bureaucracy

Struggling to modernize everything from finances to food safety, China moved further Monday from the Stalinist bureaucracy that its founders envisioned by reorganizing the way its government does business.

But while the restructuring approved by the country's largely powerless legislature means government will look and function differently, it doesn't represent a challenge to the political control of the ruling Communist Party.

The government restructuring plan, revealed last week, tackles enormous economic and social changes unleashed by two decades of economic reforms that streamlined China's sprawling ministerial system.

Overwhelmingly endorsed by the National People's Congress by 2,699 votes to 88, the plan consolidates trade and economic operations in a new Commerce Ministry. It creates a single Cabinet-level oversight agency for banks and a State Food and Drug Administration.

The plan boosts the policing of financial systems to prevent corruption as markets open to the world, and sets up an agency to oversee state assets. China wants to make sure that endemic corruption and graft don't sink its ship, even as it backs away from firm state control over the economy.

Though China has undergone more sweeping restructuring in the past, the new changes mark a firm step away from a system devised over decades of communism, which focused on state planning. The new setup looks much more American.

International investors, led to some degree by transnational organizations like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, are placing more emphasis on the institutional strength of emerging markets. Moves to reduce corruption, ensure property rights and prevent fraud are often rewarded with foreign investments and multilateral loans.

The plan also renames and reorganizes the State Development Planning Commission, long entrusted with carrying out the traditional five-year plans of the Communist Party's controlled economy.

Unchanged, though, is Communist Party political control — as reaffirmed by senior leader Li Peng in his final speech to the assembly as NPC chairman.

"We should tightly unite around Comrade Hu Jintao as the party secretary," Li said, adding that delegates must continue "arduously struggling toward the future and keep up with the times for the complete construction of a well-off society."

Creating a "well-off society" has been one of the congress' major themes, a reference to the leadership's mission of raising living standards to stave off unrest that could undermine the party's grip on power.

Among the most intractable parts of that mission is improving the lot of farmers, whose incomes have stagnated for years.

At a news conference, Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin said farmers have been affected less than expected by membership in the World Trade Organization, which China joined in December 2001. He expressed confidence in the industry.

"I don't believe agriculture in China is in trouble," Du said. "The overall trend is good."

China's historic transformation from central to market economy has resulted in an increase in inequality, at least temporarily and according to some measures.

But quantifying that trend, and determining whether it is accelerating or abating, is complicated. With its abundant source of cheap labor, China's lowest-paid workers should be gaining ground on its better paid workers.

But China's economy is so huge, and its rural-urban divide so drastic, that the benefits of trade may be confined to cities, which are more likely to be home to elites.

Separately, outgoing President Jiang Zemin met with top officers of China's 2.5 million-strong military — a sign of his continuing influence despite plans to step down as president at the end of the congress's annual session. Jiang is expected to retain his post as head of the government commission that commands the armed forces.

Jiang, who never served in the Chinese army but wore a green military-style tunic, urged the officers to embrace modernization.

"The army must be aware of its responsibilities to meet the challenges of how wars are fought in the world today," Jiang said. "The Chinese army must transform successfully from a mechanical army to an information-age army."

Jiang was accompanied to the meeting by Vice President Hu Jintao, expected to succeed him as president. Hu succeeded Jiang as Communist Party secretary general in November.