The major task in the near future is altering government functions and reforming the administrative approval system, which would be heavy and arduous, Zhu said in a meeting of the committee which had compiled the framework of organizational reform.

Present at the meeting was Hu Jintao, China's vice president and director of the compilation committee.

Reform of government institutions was an important task set forth at the 15th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Over the past five years, the State Council, China's highest governing body, had cut its subordinate ministries from 40 to 29, reducing the government payroll by half, Zhu said.

Government departments at provincial levels had also shrunk by a big margin, with the staff working there cut by half. The number of staff working in government departments at county and township levels was cut by 20 percent. In all, the number of government functionaries had decreased by 1.15 million. The anticipated target has been met, Zhu said.

However, he said, measures should be taken to prevent restoration of the old size of government institutions or expansion of reformed government institutions.

(People's Daily June 20, 2002)