Zhang Baoqing, last year before his retirement

politics - The lacking power of the central government

ESWN translates a remarkable exchange from the China Youth Daily, where the lack of effectiveness of the central government is discussed. It is a subject where I'm very much at odds with other observers of the Chinese realities. Too often the Chinese government is seen as a powerful, coherent and regularly evil entity that can push ahead its politices at will.
I see as one of China's largest challenges the eroding power of the central government, who is only marginally in charge of its country. That makes it possible for lower level governments to avoid, ignore or even oppose central policies. Fine, if you think that those policies do no make sense, but in many cases they do make sense, like in the case of fighting AIDS, polution, proliferation of arms, reform of the banking systems and some other details.
In an interview with the China Youth Daily, Zhang Baoqing, a former vice-minister of education, complaints that many policies by the central government simply do not leave Zhongnanhai, the Beijing compound of the central leadership, talking about regulations to promote education for students who cannot afford to pay it themselves.
Tan Xiongwei of the paper continues in an opinion piece with other rules, on the safety of mines, making the issue broader. "These events reflect the crisis facing the rule of law," he writes.

In a country ruled by law, whether the national laws or the orders from the upper-level government, they reflect the spirit and power of the rule of law. If the various orders and policies from the upper-level government are distorted or ignored during the execution, then it is not just the authority of the central government but also the rule of law are being challenged. Therefore, it is not enough to issue more orders and announcements to promote the central government policies. It is not enough to focus on specific cases and apply pressure or issue penalties against defiant local officials. In order to put a stop to the phenomenon of "policies decided at Zhongnanhai not making it out of Zhongnanhai", the most basic step is to build up a system of rule of law. To establish the authority of the central government, we must first establish the authority of the rule of law, and then use the rule of law to protect the authority of the central government. That would be the best path.