context: Countering formalism and bureaucratism has been a major part of intraparty governance since the 18th Party Congress. The aim is to help grassroots cadres eliminate overloaded tasks and duties, easing administrative burdens. In the Politburo meeting on 30 July, top officials reviewed and approved certain regulations on rectifying formalism to ease grassroots burdens. The full text was released in mid-August.
Recently, the CPC General Office and the State Council Office released ‘Certain regulations on rectifying formalism to ease grassroots burdens’, reports Xinhua. The General Office responded to reporters’ questions regarding the regulations.
The regulations were rolled out as the Centre
- acknowledged the difficulty in eradicating formalism and bureaucratism overnight
- ordered sustainable mechanisms to be built to ease grassroots administrative burdens during the Third Plenum
The release of the regulations
- evinced the Centre’s stern attitude in supporting grassroots cadres
- better connected systems related to rectification work
- rolled out intra-party regulations to build standards for easing grassroots administrative burdens
- inspired by the former eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct
- refined the sustainability of the grassroots support mechanism
- target ‘small’ issues via strict restrictions
- clarify demands and work requirements to avoid overwork
- urged localities to empower and relieve the burdens of grassroots cadres via
- reform and innovative measures
- encouragement
The regulations are underpinned by several guiding principles
- Xi Jinping’s 习近平 speeches and directives on pruning formalism and bureaucratism
- problem-solving-oriented approach
- retaining Marxist orthodox while pursuing innovation
- summarise the experience and methods for easing the grassroots burden
- standardise effective measures into systemic requirements
- remain practical and concise
Overall, the regulations consist of seven parts
- simplifying paperwork
- consider grassroots practicalities when drafting policy papers
- cutting down meetings
- better design assessments for cadres
- simplify examinations
- focus on practical work instead
- restrict municipalities or above from transferring cadres from the grassroots to aid with higher-level affairs
- standardise management of administrative services websites and apps
- standardise the responsibilities of grassroots cadres
- order provincial-level units to guide localities in developing duty lists
- advance model cases demonstration
To implement the regulations well, there is a need to
- incorporate the content into
- Party committee learning sessions
- Party school and cadre academy training programs
- require leading cadres to act as an example
- strengthen rectification of existing problems
- normalise oversight and publicising model issues