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China’s latest reforms strengthen Communist Party control over finance, science and tech
- Beijing’s latest restructuring plan bolsters ‘party-state’ and continues trend of consolidating party oversight over crucial domains, observers say
- Professor likens most recent overhaul to ‘pre-Deng Xiaoping period’ – before changes aimed at preventing the concentration of power
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China released in full its party and state overhaul plan on Thursday, revealing a strengthened “party-state” with more Communist Party control over crucial domains such as finance, science and technology and grass-roots governance, according to observers.
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Under the plan, bodies will be set up under the party’s Central Committee to oversee finance, science and technology, and the top office overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs will report directly to the Central Committee instead of the State Council, China’s cabinet.
According to a directive that accompanied the plan on Thursday, the changes were necessary to ensure the party’s dominance in steering China down the path of modernisation and “delivering a national renaissance”.
Last week, the National People’s Congress endorsed a cabinet restructuring plan to set up a centralised financial regulator and a data bureau, as well as revamp the Ministry of Science and Technology, in an attempt to break the US stranglehold on technology and speed up the recovery of the post-Covid economy.
Over the past four decades, the country has regularly revamped its government and party structure to respond to pivotal issues and improve efficiency. But since 2018, restructuring plans have diverged from the trajectory of earlier reforms by consolidating party oversight over core issues.
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