Premier Li Keqiang praised the positive role of the State Council’s supervision in pushing forward the implementation of major decisions among ministries and local governments.

Premier Li made the comments at the executive meeting of the State Council on July 8. He also said that the Chinese economy has shown positive signs in the second quarter — and this is partly due to the supervision.

Since May, the State Council has sent 11 groups, led by deputy secretary generals of the State Council and heads of relevant ministries, to carry out supervision over 18 provinces, 35 ministries and also units.

The Premier said that the supervision is a “big push” to motivate ministries and local governments, and aims to promote policy implementation and urge the authorities to take initiative.

“Despite commendable results, the supervision also found some major problems that need to be seriously addressed and corrected,” he said.

“Efforts should be made to put major policies, reforms and projects into practice, in order to resist the downward economic pressure and stabilize economic growth.”

‘Typical corruption’ of government officials

Premier Li listened to the reports of the 11 supervision groups, and requested that efforts should be made to retrieve or redirect unused budgetary funds and land — and also requested that officials who do not perform their duties should take responsibility for their actions.

“According to your reports, officials who did not perform their duties or are ineffective don’t have to take responsibility as their work is then done by those who perform in an effective manner — this is ridiculous,” the Premier said.

Such inaction is typical corruption of government officials and they should definitely take responsibility for it.”

Severe punishment

Premier Li also asked for some details concerning the supervision.

He said that more work is required to streamline administration and delegate power to the lower levels, as well as to strengthen necessary supervision and provide better services.

The public welcomes these policies, but there are some problems in the implementation process, the Premier said.

“The central government has delegated some administrative approvals to the county level, but the local authorities are still incapable of providing efficient services for the public and enterprises,” he also said.

“In some other places, the number of pre-approvals has greatly increased after some administrative approvals were canceled. This is a play on words and should be severely punished,” he said.

During the meeting on July 8, the Premier also suggested that a regular supervision mechanism — that coordinates the work of existing supervision organizations in ministries and local governments — should be established.

The results of this supervision should be made known to the public and cases of irresponsible officials should be disclosed, he said.