Professor Jirong YAN: The Key Feature in China's Governance System is Top-Down Management plus Bottom-up Autonomy
Q: The fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of CPC has pointed out that the governance at grassroot level is an important part of China’s governance system. What are some key features of the governance at grassroot level, and how are they displayed?
A: China has adopted autonomy since 1990s. First it started with democratic election, then turned into open access of information, and finally into open management and free participation. Today, governance at grassroot level refers to having open communication and building joint governance. Matching with those, China has also implemented a series of reforms which are closely related to people’s daily life.
Q: What is the biggest advantage of China’s governance system? How to balance between the top-down management and the bottom-up autonomy?
A: The biggest advantage is that we focus all the attention on solving major problems. While others are still debating feasibility issues and other details, China has begun its act. China is a developing country. Thus, the Chinese government faces two tasks. One is overall development, and the other is internal governance. Correlate with that, the government also has two challenges to overcome: the evaluation and inspection from the upper levels, and the request and needs from the people. The way to integrate these two is through the leadership of the Communist Party.
Q: Efficiency is a major advantage of China’s national governance system. How to make sure we combine the efficiency and the reasonability in governance?
A: Generally speaking, good governance consists of two factors: reasonable policies and effective execution. Based on the current situation, I suggest we pay special attention to the policy factor. On the one hand, we should avoid making random decisions or prioritizing reputation establishment. On the other hand, we should avoid unsupported policies. Meanwhile, it is equally important to avoid deceiving the public or the leadership. To achieve these three goals, we need to introduce a tolerant decision-making system, allowing the public to participate and become part of the decision-making process.
Q: The plenum mentioned that we are experiencing an unprecedented changing era. China is also at a pivot point of revival. In the face of all the challenges, we must insist socialism with Chinese characteristics, focusing the effort on promoting the national governance system and its modernization. How should we spend the effort?
A: In the next 30 years, we need to continually ameliorate the governance system into a more tolerant, responsive, integrated, transparent and effective one. My focus of the plenum is on how to transfer the systematic advantages to governance efficiency. I think the answer should be the people. What the people care most should become the biggest goal of national governance. Only through governance efficiency can it reveals the advantages of our system to the general public.
(Cited from China National Radio Net http://china.cnr.cn/yaowen/20191225/t20191225_524911502.shtml)
