ABSTRACT
The State Council of China unveiled its 'Plan for State Council Institutional Reform and Transformation of Government Functions', on 10 March 2013. The government has indicated a willingness to substantially lower the barrier of entry to establish social organizations. Chinese bureaucrats are not exactly employees of the government who can be dismissed when not needed; they are cadres holding simultaneously positions in the ruling communist party. The most drastic restructuring of the State Council took place in 1998 under the strong and energetic leadership of Premier Zhu Rongji. The industrial ministries were abolished, turned into trade associations or packed into industrial bureaus under the State Economic Commission. Meanwhile, macroeconomic regulatory agencies were strengthened. The Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress has rolled out a comprehensive liberalization reform plan but its implementation takes tremendous political will and clout that Beijing may not possess. Arbitrary political power hinders the development of a mature, self-regulating market and a relatively autonomous, self-governing society.
