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Local chiefs call all the hiring shots
By Guangzhou Daily |
March 14, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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EDITOR'S note:
On March 10, a top legislator said China now has 10 million public servants, compared with 6 million only four years ago. On March 12, the State Administration of Public Service rebuked the legislator, saying that China now has 6.89 million public servants.
Whichever is correct, it's blatantly clear to everyone that China simply has too many "big hats" (da gai mao, meaning official hats) - a big burden on taxpayers.
Here is what the legislator, Liu Xirong, actually said:
"In economic hard times, many countries would first of all cut the number of public servants, but here in China, who dares to trim whom?... China had 6 million public servants four years ago, but now we have 10 million - a whopping increase of 1 million every year... Supervising 100,000 officials is one thing, but supervising 10 million is quite another... Some foreigners couldn't understand why China would discipline more than 100,000 officials every year, until I explained to them that China has too many officials - after all, you clean away more mud from an elephant than from a pig."
Liu is a vice chairman of the law committee of the 11th National People's Congress. He is formerly a vice chairman of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.
Following are three press commentaries on this issue.
THERE'S no denial that China has too many officials, but simply limiting their numbers through legislation may not work.
In many regions, local government or Party chiefs call all the shots in hiring issues. They often hire whomever they want and create job positions as they wish.
In practice, these local chiefs are seldom held responsible for wanton employment. In the worst cases, those public servants hired beyond official quotas are sacked, but the local chiefs who hire them in the first place are given a slap on the wrist at most.
It doesn't work simply to set a numerical limit to the number of public servants. Local chiefs must not be given power to hire as they wish.
On March 10, a top legislator said China now has 10 million public servants, compared with 6 million only four years ago. On March 12, the State Administration of Public Service rebuked the legislator, saying that China now has 6.89 million public servants.
Whichever is correct, it's blatantly clear to everyone that China simply has too many "big hats" (da gai mao, meaning official hats) - a big burden on taxpayers.
Here is what the legislator, Liu Xirong, actually said:
"In economic hard times, many countries would first of all cut the number of public servants, but here in China, who dares to trim whom?... China had 6 million public servants four years ago, but now we have 10 million - a whopping increase of 1 million every year... Supervising 100,000 officials is one thing, but supervising 10 million is quite another... Some foreigners couldn't understand why China would discipline more than 100,000 officials every year, until I explained to them that China has too many officials - after all, you clean away more mud from an elephant than from a pig."
Liu is a vice chairman of the law committee of the 11th National People's Congress. He is formerly a vice chairman of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.
Following are three press commentaries on this issue.
THERE'S no denial that China has too many officials, but simply limiting their numbers through legislation may not work.
In many regions, local government or Party chiefs call all the shots in hiring issues. They often hire whomever they want and create job positions as they wish.
In practice, these local chiefs are seldom held responsible for wanton employment. In the worst cases, those public servants hired beyond official quotas are sacked, but the local chiefs who hire them in the first place are given a slap on the wrist at most.
It doesn't work simply to set a numerical limit to the number of public servants. Local chiefs must not be given power to hire as they wish.
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