One task of the plenum was to recommend candidates for the nation's top administrative, legislative, judiciary and advisory jobs.

Beyond that routine, the conference proposed to restructure government offices and reform governance mechanisms. It urged the State Council to formulate its own reform program.

The nominations and the reform plan are subject to deliberation and approval by delegates to the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature, at their annual meeting starting March 5.

While predictions about who goes where subside in the run-up to the NPC session, the restructuring program stands out as a test in determining the direction of political reforms in the next five years.

Largely due to its special sensitivity, the plenum's communique resorted to abstract and vague expressions that offer no specific insight into the reshuffle. Still, there is reason to believe that this new round of reforms would go beyond streamlining to involve some substantial changes.

The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the country's first, has recently drafted a plan for thorough restructuring of government offices.

Although it is unknown whether the central government will draw on Shenzhen's ideas, the plan of the special economic zone still provides food for thought.

The main idea of the Shenzhen program is known as "administrative trifurcation," which literally means dividing current government functions along the lines of decision-making, execution and supervision and reorganizing government offices accordingly.

The experiment is also expected to include a reduction in the Party's direct involvement in administration and legislation. The current overlapping Party leadership may be limited to planning overall economic development strategies and making major macro policies.

While a detailed roadmap remains unavailable, the proposed experiments in Shenzhen have been perceived as a key move in political reform since the late 1970s.

Different from the check and balance mechanisms in the West, the so-called trifurcation represents a step forward compared with previous reform efforts.

The call for transforming government functions has run through all recent rounds of administrative reforms. But the shared emphasis lingered largely on downsizing. Cutting off redundant staff did help increase efficiency of the administration. One thing distinguishing the 1998 reform was the abolition of several ministries to realize industry self governance.

With no clear lines defining proper boundaries of their jurisdiction, it is not unusual that government offices and functionaries share a headache over how to properly carry out their duties.

One common, and most damaging, plague is believed to be that of government offices simultaneously playing the roles of decision-maker, executor and supervisor. The proposed experiments in Shenzhen legitimately target that trinity.

While the specifics of plans for both Shenzhen and the central government are pending approval, we have reason to expect major headway, not only in political reforms, but also in the economy.

Late leader Deng Xiaoping said reform is a productive force. Decentralization in step with reforms over the past decades ignited the explosive growth of the Chinese economy.

As the government moves to refine its functions, we can foresee fresh vitality on the economic front.

The impact of the reforms will be longer lasting, with a direct exertion on the building of democratic politics and rule of law.

(China Daily February 28, 2003)