Chinese Sphere: Searching for Transparency in Government
One of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) key challenges in preserving its ruling position and maintaining domestic stability is carrying out political reform to correct for the excesses and imbalances of the past 30 years of economic growth. The CCP has ruled out Western-style democracy, so it must search for other ways to fight corruption, improve efficiency, and strengthen local governance capacities. A few weeks ago, a People’s Daily editorial called for government officials to be willing to withstand scrutiny by the country’s 300 million netizens. Last week, a National People’s Congress delegate from Guangzhou called for video feeds of the city government’s meetings to be accessible by the Internet (article in Chinese here). An editorial in the Yangcheng Evening News, one of China’s largest circulating newspapers, voiced its approval:
In practice, televising the government’s decision-making process on the TV or Internet would better protect the public’s right of knowledge, participation, expression, and monitoring. It would contribute to reducing policymaking mistakes and decrease the costs associated with policymaking and implementation. … TV or Internet video feeds of the decisionmaking process for policies affecting people’s livelihoods demonstrate the government’s openness, democratic nature, and resolve to eliminate conflict of interests.
These calls for using the Internet to foster an open government do not sound much different from what some citizens in the U.S. have been advocating. It will be interesting to see how significant a role the CCP allows the Internet to play in making politicians more transparent and accountable.
Controversy over the possibility of Taiwan signing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with China intensified last week with opposition parties threatening to launch an impeachment effort against the president if it goes through. Government officials have described it as a free trade agreement that Taiwan needs to sign in order to remain competitive after China, Japan, and South Korea enter into free trade agreements with ASEAN over the next few years. However, none of the agreement’s details have been made available to the public, and the government will only submit it to the legislature for review after it has been signed. The Apple Daily, one of the leading newspapers in Taiwan, weighs in on this situation:
[President Ma] has indicated that the CECA would immediately take effect after signing and would then be sent to the legislature for review. This drew the immediate criticism from both the KMT and DPP. In terms of democratization, this is without a doubt a step backwards. The Constitution grants the president the authority to enter into agreements with foreign countries. However, it also grants the legislature the authority to review the signing of agreements. It is the norm in democracies for the parliament to perform an ante hoc review rather than a post hoc ratification – only the rubber-stamp National People’s Congress of China “enjoys” the right of post hoc ratification. Is Taiwan’s legislature a local branch of the National People’s Congress?
What President Ma is exercising is somewhat equivalent to the Fast Track negotiating authority that U.S. presidents used to enjoy before it expired in 2007. The root problem, however, is not really over procedure, but the fact that he is signing a CECA with China. It also does not help that the CECA name sounds similar to CEPA, the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement signed between Hong Kong and China. Now, if the Ma administration was about to enter into an FTA with the U.S., there would not be nearly as much suspicion and controversy.
