China Looks To Peel Back Its Red Tape: Beijing Aims To Lift Economic Growth By Trying To Slash Its Vast Bureaucracy

See China’s Plan B to Save the Economy: A Crusade Against Busywork by Chun Han Wong of The WSJ. I used the print title of this article for the title of this post. Excerpts:

"The directive to supervisors: Hold fewer meetings and make them shorter. Cut superfluous paperwork. Don’t burden the “grassroots”—local-level government workers—with cumbersome and unproductive tasks. Stop using phone apps to track staff and bombard them with instructions. Don’t overwhelm them with performance reviews, lest they focus on pleasing their bosses rather than getting work done.

Many local bureaucrats are required to submit weekly, monthly and quarterly reports, sapping their time and energy, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, which took up the campaign. “The job must be done well, but more important, the reports must be written beautifully!” one official lamented. “If the word counts in the documents are lower than that of other departments, we can’t showcase our achievements!” another said.

Excessive inspections were also cause for complaint. Government workers are often tied up preparing for appraisals, to the extent of setting aside their day-to-day work, according to a social-media post from the Henan provincial government. Then, some supervisors “visit multiple locations a day, shake hands, say a few words, take a few photos, and then leave,” a Xinhua report said. “They are also picky about their food and accommodation, and even ask for special cars and traffic clearance.”

Then there is the overreliance on digital devices to monitor workers. Officials are often glued to their phones, replying to their bosses and submitting reports on countless apps."

"Xi has called “formalism and bureaucratism”—party speak for box-ticking behavior that favors form over substance—a “major enemy” of the party and the people."

"Some front-line officials don’t adapt Beijing’s directives to suit local conditions for fear of being punished for missteps, said Li Daokui, an economics professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and a former adviser to China’s central bank.

“They spend too much energy pretending they are implementing policies,” Li said. “Centralization is good for political decisions. However, for economics, you do need certain kinds of chaos.”

To reinforce the message, the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has ramped up a crackdown on bureaucracy-related offenses this year. It also named and shamed some officials, including those accused of perpetuating a problem that represents one of China’s economic challenges: wasting money on prestige projects to score political points."