FOOD SAFETY WOES ADDRESSED

According to the reform plan, the Ministry of Health will be empowered with the function to oversee the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), since the government has come under great pressure after a series of food-related scandals, or even deaths of people over the years.

The former head of the SFDA, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed last year after being convicted of taking bribes in return for approving hundreds of medicines, some that proved dangerous.

MACRO-REGULATION TO BE STRENGTHENED

After the reshuffle, the National Development and Reform Commission will focus on macro-regulation and phase out its involvement in economic micro-management and the examination and approval of specific projects, Hua said.

The Ministry of Finance is to reform and improve its management of the budget and tax systems. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, is to strengthen the conduct of monetary policy and improve the exchange-rate mechanism.

The reshuffle also includes the establishment of a ministry of human resources and social security, which will combine the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. A state bureau of civil servants will be formed under the new ministry.

A new ministry for housing and urban and rural construction will replace the Ministry of Construction.

The proposed institutional restructuring, an important part of China's overall plan to deepen reforms in its administrative system, is a continuation of the previous five major government reshuffles over the past 30 years.

After the reshuffle, the State Council will have 27 ministries and commissions apart from the General Office, compared with the present 28.

On the necessity of the reform, Hua Jianmin said that functions of government have not been completely transformed, with public administration and public services being still weak; Structure of government institutions is not rational enough; Powers in some regards were too concentrated and lack due oversight and checks.

President Hu Jintao vowed to accelerate the reform of the administrative system and build a service-oriented government at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last year.

"We must lose no time in working out a master plan for it," Hu said in October.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2008)