Economic Reforms Increase EfficiencyChina's transformation from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market system over the past 20 years has helped the government manage the economy and society more effectively, said a senior government official yesterday in Beijing.State Councillor Wang Zhongyu addressed the annual conference of the International Association of School and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), which began yesterday with some 400 participants from 59 countries attending. The theme of the conference is improving accountability, efficiency and responsiveness in government. Addressing the conference, Wang, who is also president of China National School of Administration, said a nation's economic management system is closely related to its economic performance and social development. China had a long history of planned economies featuring strict State control before the adoption of the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world in 1978. However, as China developed, the shortcomings of the planned economic system became clear, Wang admitted. To address the situation, China has adopted a series of key reform measures, including opening to foreign investment, reforming its ownership and economic structure by encouraging the development of the private sector and embracing new technologies. China has also worked to create a macro-control framework in keeping with the market economy. State-owned enterprises have been re-organized and renovated in an attempt to turn them into modern corporations by separating government functions from management. Wang said China's reform and opening up over the past two decades can be interpreted as a response to the fast changing domestic and foreign environment it faces as a developing country. "Reforms have been fruitful in increased governmental efficiency, accountability and responsiveness," Wang said. According to Wang, to build a more efficient and pragmatic government, China has reformed its administrative system by decentralizing power, carrying out institutional reform, and introducing a national system of public servants. Meanwhile, a legal framework tailored to the needs of market economy has taken shape in China. |
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