China gives green light for 5-year plan to cut digital red tape, ‘meaningless labour’

Cyberspace regulator aims to improve efficiency by reducing excessive formalities and duplication across government apps and social media

Directive follows warnings from China’s president that digital bureaucracy is increasing workloads for grass-roots officials

2-MIN READ2-MIN

A crackdown on digital bureaucracy has been launched after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that “new versions of formalism and bureaucratism” were on the rise. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:00am, 19 Dec 2023

China’s cyberspace regulator has launched a long-term campaign to cut down on red tape and excessive formalities across government apps and social media.

The directive was issued on Monday by the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission (CCAC), the Communist Party oversight body that sits at the top of the State Council’s Cyberspace Administration, which was set up to manage internet-related issues.

The document said that government apps, social media accounts and WeChat groups need to be regulated to make tools more user-friendly for the public, instead of being used by officials in evaluations and for departments to show off their levels of digitalisation.

“The prevention and control of ‘formalism on the fingertips’ matters to the image of the party, the popularity among people, the modernisation of the national governance system and governance capacity. It is of great significance in promoting the party’s style of government and social atmosphere,” the directive said.

The campaign, which could last up to five years, came on the heels of President Xi Jinping’s remarks about preventing formalism and bureaucracy last week.

“New versions of formalism and bureaucratism” were on the rise, he warned, adding that grass-roots cadres had to sign in on all sorts of software and accounts, and too many government forums were a waste of money and time.

“This is formalism in the digital new age, and it’s another way to increase burdens at the grass roots,” the CCAC said.