China Moves to Reform Public Institutions to Improve Social Services

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Summary:

On April 10th, the Chinese government got together and collectively decided to make many of its public institutions and services more efficient and serviceable in order to aid the people of China more. The government has supposedly set up a blueprint for the restructuring of many government institutions, depending on their function. According to government releases last week, the reforms require that institutions, "stop performing government and business functions, that supervision be separated from day-to-day functions, and for non-profit institutions to be separated from profit-oriented ones." These reforms are aimed at taking care of the out-dated institutions that are taking up too many of the resources of the Chinese people. Experts have noted that public institutions with inadequate or ambiguous functions will either be put away with or merged with other institutions. Meanwhile, those public institutions dealing with social benefits are being encouraged to stay afloat, and likely, more government money and oversight will be afforded to them. These institutions will likely become the major forces behind the social welfare in China.

Significance: This article is very interesting in that seems to deviate from the normal structure of welfare in China. Instead of having everything come directly from the state, government institutions that may not seem as connected to the Chinese government are taking credit for peoples' welfare. However, this still shows the tremendous amount of social welfare that the Chinese people receive annually. Being a Communist state, there is a heavy reliance on social welfare, and many people see this as their inalienable right. This can be strictly contrasted to the American welfare situation, where the people have historically seen themselves as the main source of income and prosperity. The inadequacy of government institutions should not come as a surprise, however, due to a marked lack of competition and thus, a lack of initiative to get better. Communist states promote a lagging behind in terms of efficiency and technology because of this lack of competition among institutions and companies.