A non-profit and non-government organization with a focus on
political restructuring studies and policy consultation was
established on Saturday in Beijing.
Yu Keping, director of the newly founded Center for Chinese
Government Innovations which is affiliated to the Institute of
Political Development and Government Administration under Peking
University, said his center was set up to build close co-operation
between academia and officials.
It will also study significant theoretical issues and policies
concerning Chinese governance innovations.
Consisting of dozens of renowned professors and researchers in
political and social studies, Yu said his center would find,
evaluate, study, reward and disseminate innovations adopted by all
levels of government in order to promote a socialist political
civilization in China.
Jointly run by the Ford Foundation and two Chinese institutions
on political studies, the center is undertaking selections for the
second Government Innovations Awards. The focus is currently on
exploring a set of objective criteria for evaluating local
government performances in a bid to promote studies on Chinese
politics, according to Yu.
The first 2002 awards selected 10 winners and 10 runners-up from
320 local applicants. Among the winners, the competitive election
for township mayors and Communist Party secretaries in Southwest
China's Sichuan Province was an eye-catching governance
innovation.
Yu said since the reform and opening-up, governments at various
levels have made many brave reforms and innovations in different
fields, such as public service, administration reform, political
transparency, grass-roots democracy and scientific
decision-making.
All of the innovations were considered for participation in the
second set of awards for 2003-04, in order to exchange experiences
and push forward political progress in China, said Yu.
(China Daily August 25, 2003)