Introduction
The public sector or rather known as the state sector is that part of the government that deals with provision of services to the public. Though the administration and type of services provided differs from country to country, the most common services provided through the public sector include; health care facilities, roads, street lighting, military and police just to mention but a few. In other words, the public sector is responsible for providing the public goods and services which all have access to despite whether they have paid tax or not.
The public sector of any nation has an important role to play in the political, social and economic sectors. Thus most countries are yearning to establish a sizeable public sector and China is no exception. It is for this reason that China has been seeking to make reforms in its public sector for effective government of the national resources as well as other reasons.
However, the process of making public reforms in the public sector of China has not been an easy one as it has been faced with many challenges and difficulties during implementation. This paper is therefore an analysis of the process of reforming China’s public sector while looking at the challenges and difficulties faced during the implementation process.
The historical narrative of public sector reforms of China
For a long time now, China’s government has ventured into the process making important reforms to the public sector in a bid to achieving good governance as well as improving the performance of services of the civil society. The process of China’s public sector reforms began as early as during the Second World War.
During this time, Chine was dominated by capitalist who wanted everything for themselves. There came the Neo-liberals whose ideas were to blend in the liberal political views with the sole aim of improving the economic growth. This is therefore what initiated the beginning of making reforms in the public sector so as to ensure that resources were equally distributed to the nationalities.
At the same time China was undergoing severe fiscal crisis which in turn affected the economy of the country thus the economic crisis. This came about due to the great Asian crises which were more serious than the current global crisis. This is because they had a great impact on the economies of Asian countries by for example increasing the unemployment levels in that continent among other factors.
The crises also had a great impact on the education and health sectors of the Asian countries, China inclusive. Since government intervention was difficult, the crises affected the poor people in the society. As a result, the government of China saw the need of making reforms in its public sector so as to ensure some of the essential facilities were available to the society and especially to the poor people.
In addition to this, China has been trying to quench its thirst for effective and efficient public sector. The government has been yearning to improve the performance of civil services as well as improving the services to the public through accountability.
Despite the fact that in the recent past improvements has been made, serious changes are yet to be made on the key sectors and systems of the public sector (McMillan and Naughton 132). Another thing that influenced the need to make reforms in the public sector of China is the influence of neo-liberal ideas and consequential criticism of the Weberian based public administration.
This emphasised on economic growth of china which could be effectively improved by the efficiency in the public sector. This was a two way, in that citizens who are happy with the government will be willing to work hard thus improving the economy growth. At the same time, reforms on the public sector would lead to cost benefit to the government thus contributing to the productivity hence economic growth of the country.
Public reforms made in China
Beyond the historical background of the public sector they are seen to have a very high degree of heterogeneity characterised by the following pre-reform regime (Burns 104).
- The public sector was neither a government department nor a state owned enterprise.
- It was fully owned and managed by the central government.
- This sector got its funds from the national budget which it used to finance all its projects.
- The activities of the public sector were to be conducted in accordance with the state plan
- The staffs of the public sector were to be controlled by the civil service personnel.
- The operations of the public sector were barred from the market operations.
From the aforementioned points, it is clearly seen that there was need for the reforms to be made on the public sector of China. Some of these reforms include;
Decentralisation from central to local government
This was among the initial reforms made to the public sector whereby the local government was bestowed the duty of managing and providing public services. This was meant to ensure efficiency in terms of transparency of the provision of the public goods and services unlike when under the management of central government.
The breakdown of duties from the busy central government to the less occupied local government was a good move since the society benefited from the services provided equally while the government reduced the amount of resources that initially went to waste due to inefficiency.
Reduction of public services provided by the state
As mentioned above, public goods and services are usually provided to the entire society and accessed by all despite whether they have paid taxes or not.
The funds to provide these services are usually from the taxpayers’ money. Thus reducing the amount of public services to be provided by the state was a good move by China’s government as the money could be channelled towards other developmental projects. A good example was the withdrawal of free education while still providing essential services such as military and roads among others.
Increasing the practise of local government of charging fees for basic services’
These services were initially free thus the government had to fund their provision. Therefore the decision to charging little fee on these services enabled the government to save while at the same time earning from the fee charged. This would therefore upgrade the economy of the country.
Market sector implementation in EPZs
The Export Processing Zones have the benefit of earning foreign exchange for the country as well as providing employment. Since provision of employment to the public is among the core functions of any public sector, China’s government plan to implement the export processing zones was one of the important reforms which benefited the society.
De-collectivisation of the rural commune system
The rural areas of any nation form part of the great contributors to the country’s economy. As part of its reforms in the public sector, China decided to de-collectivise the rural commune system such that it would control it towards efficiency of the whole system.
These are just some of the reforms made on the public sector, however, the process is continuous with reforms being made each time there is a need for one. This is due to the rapid rate of globalization which calls for each and every government to be on the lookout before being beaten up by the global competition.
Challenges Facing Public Sector Reforms
The process of making reforms on the public sector has not been a bed of roses for the Chinese government as it has been forced to meet and overcome many challenges in the process line (Jincheng 5). To begin with is the problem of introducing the new public management service in the country. The new public management is among China’s reforms on the public sector which entails the transformation of the mode of governance in public departments.
It therefore requires them to be market and enterprise oriented such that the process of administration is modernised in the country. The implementation of the new public management is a big challenge to the government of China given its difficulty in administration which is only best suited to the private products and the service demanded products that can be provided by the market.
The other challenge that the Chinese government is facing as a result of the public reforms is that of protecting the civil servants from arbitrary removal. For a long time in China, the civil servants have been faced with arbitrary removal from their positions given the high rate of corruption.
This is something very difficult to overcome despite the fact that the public sector reforms have catered for it. Therefore, for the public sector under the local government to protect the civil servants is a big challenge. The third challenge facing the government of China as a result of public sector reforms is protecting their political neutrality.
After the public sector reforms, the political environment in China is deemed to be neutral. This is a new development whose chances of achievement and survival are very minimal given the fact that the political environment was heterogeneous from time immemorial. This abrupt change is therefore bound to pose a great challenge to the public sector once the reforms are effectively implemented (Schiere 78).
In addition to the above challenges, there is also the challenge of policing the set rules by an independent body from the government. Since the public sector is not able to pollicise all the rules on its own, it has to subcontract some of them to an independent body to help in the implementation and policing. This is a challenge as it will require financial resources from the government as well as some formal training on the processes.
In some cases acquiring the right independent body is a challenge as well getting one that will efficiently pollicise the rules. Last but not least is the greatest challenge of the merit reforms of the public sector of China. The merit reform of China encompasses the merit pay systems of the public sector such as the health facilities, teachers in schools just to mention but a few. The aim of the merit system is to stimulate the enthusiasm of the workers in the public sector so that they can work efficiently and effectively.
The government will face a big challenge in implementing the merit reforms as it will require supplementary funds which may not be available in the government. Therefore, the government will face the challenge of sourcing the additional funds which could be from the taxpayers or donors among others.
How does it harm or benefit the Chinese citizens and government
The process of reforming the public sector has both positive and negative impacts on the citizens and the government. The same case applies to China, whose reforms have resulted to benefits to the government and its citizens while at the same time causing draw-backs. If the objectives of the China reforms of the public sector are attained, then the citizens will enjoy many benefits among them being;
Improved performance of the public sector- The public sector is enacted by the government to take care of the public needs. Therefore, if reforms are made regarding its governance, then it means that the Chinese citizens will have access to the essential public services such as the military at all times without instances of failure (Chen et al, 217).
Accountability- This means that the funds allocated to the public sector will be well spent since the responsible officials are obliged to give an account of how the funds are spent. This will therefore reduce the cases fraudsters thus ensuring that the public services are available at all times in adequate levels.
Improved Service Delivery- This was among the objectives of China’s reforms on public sector such that when achieved, the public services and goods will be provided in the right way. That is to mean that the service delivery will be upgraded so that the citizens have access to them and in the correct form and quality. For example, the military will be well equipped with good ammunition to safeguard the citizens.
Increased user satisfaction- After the reforms, the citizens will be satisfied with public services in accordance to their provision and efficiency of the system. This satisfaction will therefore increase the zeal of the citizens to pay taxes since they can effectively determine where their money goes to.
For instance, if citizens lack services like street lighting, good infrastructure and poor military and police forces, they will not be motivated to pay taxes since their money is just being consumed by the government officials without serving the right purpose it is supposed to.
The Chinese government will also benefit from the public sector reforms by first gaining trust from the citizens. After the reforms, public services will be efficiently provided thus making the citizens gain a lot of trust in the responsible government since it will have efficiently managed their funds in addition to caring about the welfare of its citizens (Copenhagen 1).
Other than this, the government will have an easier way of managing the public services since it will now be the duty of the local government and not the central government unlike before. This is due to the fact that the central government has a lot of operations to carry out as compared to the local government which additionally is closer to the citizens.
Negative impacts of the public sector reforms
It can be born witness that the reforms on the public sector have more benefits than harm on both the government and Chinese citizens. Nevertheless, the process of making the reforms is very costly to the government consuming a lot of financial and time resources.
Other than this, the reforms require that the government be very effective and efficient in the provision and management of the public services while taking care of the resources. This obligation poses a threat to the officials since they are accountable of any procedure and activity they carry out.
As for the case of the Chinese citizens, the tax evaders will be disadvantaged as the government will be on the lookout for them so as to ensure uniformity of all citizens without oppressing other. Another demerit on the citizens is that some of the services that were initially free for them will be withdrawn making them pay for them. In other instances, they will be required to pay higher taxes so that the government can efficiently provide the public utilities to the citizens.
The difficulties faced in implementation of new public sector and the possible solutions
Just like most countries, China has the dream of being an all-round well off society by the year 2020. This vision is to be achieved only if the political and economical sectors of the country are up to date. This is to mean that the government should broaden their vision to think of sustainable human development instead of only concentrating on political issues.
The government should also be prepared to overcoming disparities in the service delivery sector thus ensure transparency, efficiency as well as integrity. The process of achieving all these is not an easy one as there are very many difficulties that have to be overcome in order to ensure proper implementation of reforms in the public sector.
The biggest difficulty that China is facing is how to ensure that the public services are adequately provided to the society. This is because the public good s and services are available to all regardless to whether they have paid taxes or not. It is therefore unfair for the tax evaders to enjoy services which they have not paid for yet their counterparts the tax payers have struggled to pay for them. This is what brings about the free-riding problem which is very difficult to overcome.
Hence, the public sector has at times faced inadequate funds to cater for the provision of these essential services, thus posing a great threat for them. In other instances, the funds to provide the public service have landed in the wrong hands of fraudsters who embezzle the funds thus no services to the public (Broadman 852).
Secondly is the problem on how to develop an efficient public sector one that will be characterised as a modern market economy as well as a “well-off” society. A modern economy is characterised by transparency in its dealings and effectiveness in service provision. This is difficult to achieve given the bureaucracy required in the provision of the public goods and services as well as the presence of tax defaulters.
Therefore, to overcome these implementation difficulties and the many minor ones, the public sector reform should be enacted to begin with a vision which the sector should be entitled to look at and achieve. Thereafter a strategy with implementation plans should be put in place so as to ensure efficiency in the public sector is achieved.
Conclusion
Given the above discussion on the public sector reform of China, it is evidenced that the decision by the Chinese government to make reforms on its public sector was a worth making decision.
The historical factors that facilitated the need for reforms such as the economic and fiscal crisis, quest for efficiency and effectiveness in the public services, the post world war two neo-liberals as well as the influence of neo-liberal ideas and consequential criticism of the Weberian based public administration all have much contribution to China’ s current position.
However, the road to achieving the reforms has not been an easy one for the Chinese government which has been faced with many challenges together the difficulties during implementation of the new public sector to the country. On the other hand, it has been seen that the new public sector after the reforms has had both benefits and negative impacts on the citizens as well as the government.
All in all the public reforms have changed the face of Chinese public sector thus contributing greatly to its economic growth. The question then remains, Are the reforms in the public sector permanent or prone to change? It can be argued that reforms are prone to change given the changes in globalisation and technology.
Works Cited
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Burns, John. Public Sector reform and the state: The case of China. 2001. McGraw Hill publications.
Chen, K, Jefferson, G, and Singh, I. “Lessons from China’s Economic Reform.” 1992- Journal of Comparative Economics, 16 (2). pp. 201-225.
Copenhagen. “Globalization and Public Sector Reforms in India and China.” 2011. Web.
Jincheng, Li. China’s Human Resources Development and Public Sector Reform Facing Economic Globalization. 2001. Web.
McMillan, J. and Naughton, B. “How to Reform a Planned Economy: Lessons from China?”- 1992, Oxford Review of Economic Policy. 8 (1). Pp.130-143.
Schiere, Richard. China’s Development Challenges. – 2009. Routledge Print.