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Premier's intervention should not be necessary
By Guo Yali (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-23 10:29
The Jixi municipal government in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was
millions of yuan in arrears to a construction company, which puts the company in
a precarious financial position that caused payment default to hundreds of
farmers-turned workers.
As in several similar cases, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered an investigation and
timely resolution of the case earlier this year. The local government, however,
hid the truth and tried to fool the State Council.
The truth was not uncovered and the responsible officials remained at large
until Premier Wen made a third appeal and a special investigation team was
dispatched from Beijing.
The case was eventually resolved, but the cost of supervision and restraint
of public power was very dear.
Given the fact that the personal will of those in high positions sometimes
outweighs established rules, if officials can defy the personal instructions of
the country's top executive, there is no rule they will not bend.
This incident inspired nationwide concern largely because of the dramatic
involvement of the premier.
The Jixi officials' collective efforts to deceive the premier reveals the
alarming downside of the absence of supervisory mechanisms over administrative
power.
The local officials might have taken the chance, thinking there was little
risk of being caught because it was unlikely the premier would get personally
involved.
That is very true. No matter how hard Premier Wen works, it is simply beyond
his personal capacity to address all the problems besetting a country with 1.3
billion residents.
Like many cases brought before him, this one should have and could have been
solved at local levels. If there was no means in Jixi to check the municipal
government, plenty of tools are available at the provincial level.
Why should such a dispute be brought all the way to Beijing?
The fact the dispute was passed to the premier by a Beijing-based member of
the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is ridiculous. Where were
the competent local authorities?
There is only one premier in this country, and it is impossible for him to
take personal control of all administrative activities.
The current situation, in which it appears only resolute efforts by the top
leaders and the central government can solve grass-roots problems, is
unquestionably abnormal.
Instead of the premier's high order, a more compelling
system of power supervision should serve as the ultimate solution to problems of
this kind.
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