Expect More Apologies

At this year's full session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, Vice Premier Wu Yi made apologies to lawmakers when talking about problems concerning food and medicine safety. On several separate occasions, several other high-ranking officials also apologize to the public for deficient work, including Education Minster Zhou Ji and Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration Zhou Shengxian.

People used to believe that Chinese officials have already got accustomed to the style of highlighting achievements and downplaying failures in their work, with extremely few officials being bold enough to face up to problems and controversies. Thus, top officials apologizing for unfulfilled duties to lawmakers and even the public was rarely seen in previous NPC sessions.

Some may argue that it is because they don't need to take specific accountability that these top officials are offering open apologies. The logic is not so simple, as when an official admits failures in a certain area, even if he/she is not responsible, the person concerned must be feeling uneasy or even guilty about the work.

More government officials are expected to take this open approach. They should have the nerve to acknowledge problems and the resolve to tackle problems. When more top officials become willing to make open apologies, governance will be more effective and successful.

Beijing Youth Daily

Consumer's Day or Complaining Day?

March 15 marks World Consumer Rights Day, designed to enhance consumers' awareness of safeguarding their legitimate rights. However, in China, this day seems the only time problems accumulated during the rest of year are solved. This not only applies to consumers, but also to relevant government departments.

On each March 15, a lot of activities are organized to honor this special day. Consumers are given full opportunities to complain about commercial frauds and relevant departments are efficient to solve problems that cannot be easily settled on other days. It seems that consumers can only enjoy their legitimate rights on this single day.

The insufficient protection of consumers' legitimate rights turns March 15 into a day of complaint. Consumers have high expectations of consumers' associations, but the latter's power is limited to investigation and mediation. When mediation proves unsuccessful, they can give no substantial help to consumers.

To well protect consumers' rights, more tangible measures are needed and relevant laws and regulations should be further improved.

One day is not a long time, given that the year is composed of 365 days. Consumers hope that every day will become a "March 15," so that they can have a happier shopping experience throughout the year.

China Youth Daily

Reachable Dreams

While an increasing number of farmers migrate to cities in search of work, how to deal with their children is becoming a big headache. Some choose to leave their children with grandparents at home; but due to the poor education quality in rural areas, more people prefer to take their children with them to cities. However, high charges in urban primary and middle schools are obstructing many children from migrant workers' families from having access to regular education. To solve this problem, the most effective way is to scrap all extra fees required by the schools for admitting these disadvantaged children. If this is impractical in the short run, at least, low-cost private schools exclusive for migrant kids should be given legal status and energetically encouraged.

In the national TV broadcaster's Spring Festival gala this year, some students from a Beijing-based school for migrant children read a touching poem, saying that they can strive for as bright a future as city children. As a matter of fact, to help them fulfill the dream still needs a hard struggle of all parties concerned.

The Beijing News

Where Is the Money Really Going?

According to Feng Peien, a political advisor at the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the administrative fees that every Chinese has to bear had jumped from 20.5 yuan in 1986 to 498 yuan last year. Government cars, banquets at public expense, bureaucratic conferences and "vanity projects" guzzling energy and resources are where the money is going.

However, when it comes to the improvement of people's livelihood, some local governments' pockets are always empty. As a result, they turn to administrative fees whose collection and allocation are under their own jurisdiction. Funds raised from lottery sales, charity donations and the like are all first submitted to the governments, which will later "allocate" the money after careful analyses.

It's high time to impose some restrictions on the government's infinite "power," so as to cut the enormous administrative fees. Some people tend to blame the high administrative cost on the large size of civil servants and official personnel. Actually, this is wrong. The key lies in the boundless "power" in their hands. If this power is not effectively curbed, even if the government staff is cut by half, the increase in government expenses is likely to continue.

Guangzhou Daily