Recently, the “Asian Future Leaders” Class of the School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University visited XJTU. The two parties carried out a series of activities about academic and practical exchange on the topic of “Localized Innovation Practice: Past, Present and Future of Local Governance in Shaanxi Province”.
Dong Xinyu, deputy dean of the School of Public Policy and Administration of XJTU gave a lecture on the theme of “The Construction of China (Shaanxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Government Management Innovation in Shaanxi Province”, introducing the basic situation of the China (Shaanxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the main practices of transforming government functions. The China (Shaanxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone is among the third batch of free trade pilot zones for construction approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council of China on August 31, 2016, which is also the only pilot free trade zone in the northwest China. The strategic positioning of the free trade zone is to create a new highland for reform and opening up in inland China, exploring a new model of economic and cultural cooperation between inland China and countries along the “Belt and Road”.
The China (Shaanxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone covers three areas: the Xi’an International Trade & Logistic Park, the Central Area and the Yangling Area, with logistics trade, high-tech industry and agriculture as major industries. Institutional innovation is the core task in the construction of a free trade zone, which also forces and accelerates government reform. Offside, absence and misplacement are prominent problems remain in current government functions of Shaanxi province. Therefore, by narrowing down the scope of government intervention, the pilot free trade zone has gradually improved the mechanism of power balance, and established an “authority list” that restricts the power of each department with authorization of laws, a must-do “responsibility list” of legal duties, and a “negative list” for all that can be done without the prohibition of laws.
In the face of the dilemma of the administrative approval system, the government of the pilot free trade zone actively carried out reformation on approval mechanisms, including “All-in-one Certificate Integration” and “Ready-to-accept One Package Service & Parallel Approval Service”. In addition, the China (Shaanxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone has followed advanced experiences in developed areas such as Zhejiang province, initiating a “Once-for-all” service reform. After the lecture, both parties visited the Xi'an International Trade & Logistic Park.
With the theme of “‘Catch up and Surpass’ – Assistance of Efficacy Construction to Xi'an”, XJTU Associate Professor Yan Bo from the School of Public Policy and Administration introduced the administrative efficacy revolution in Xi'an. Efficacy construction is in the correspondence to the construction of service-oriented government. The construction of a “people’s government” will be achieved through performance improvement, of which the goal is to build intangible infrastructure, optimize the investment environment, and improve the government environment. This is a systematic and overall comprehensive management reform, and is a new try of combined innovation.
For a long time, difficulties in the optimization of business environment, low conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements, “mid-life crisis” of the development zone, and poor auxiliary facilities for public service, leading to the development obstruction or “middle-age block” of Xi’an government services, as well as the “Southwest-flying” of business projects and enterprises relocation. In order to solve these problems, Xi'an started three major revolutions, namely the “Cigarette Butts Revolution”, “Toilet Revolution” and “Administrative Efficacy Revolution”, striving to create a first-class development environment. In the Administrative Efficacy Revolution, the government launched "Four Lists and One Net" (administrative power list, governmental responsibility list, negative list for investment, special financial fund management list, and website of government affairs service) reformation, providing “Once-for-All” service through “Internet+” mode, which saved the time and energy of the masses. All these actions significantly enhanced the attraction to talents and the city's reputation.
After the lecture, teachers and students of both universities visited the Management Committee of Xi'an High-tech Industries Development Zone and discussed with the staff about issues such as “Once-for-All Service”, the development mode of the high-tech zone, and the missing-tolerance acceptance mechanism (tolerance to the temporary missing of subordinate materials for certain business, but the materials should be completed afterwards).
This program held between the two universities is of complete success. From the “Once-for-All Service” in Zhejiang province to the “Administrative Efficacy Revolution” in Xi'an, the reforms of streamline administration and power delegating, justice supervision and optimized service of the Chinese government have been expanding. An efficient and responsible government is the expectation of its people and is the call of the new era.
