政府机构改革

　　作为中国政治体制改革重要组成部分的政府机构改革已正式拉开帷幕。政府机构改革是深化经济体制改革、促进经济和社会发展的迫切需要，是国家领导制度改革的重要内容，也是密切政府同人民群众联系的客观要求。

　　China’s government restructuring campaign, animportant part of political reform in China, has beenformally staged. Restructuring governmentinstitutions is urgently needed to deepen theeconomic restructuring and promote economic andsocial development in China. It constitutes an important aspect of the reform of the stateleadership system and a necessity in bringing the government closer to the people.

　　现有政府机构设置的基本框架，实在计划经济体制的条件下逐步形成的。虽然自改革开放以来进行过多次调整和改革，取得一些进展，但由于历史条件限制和宏观环境制约，很多问题未能得到根本性的解决，机构设置同社会主义市场经济发展的矛盾日益突出。这些问题突出表现在以下几个方面：

　　The basic framework of current government institutions was formed gradually during thetime when the country’s economy was predominantly a planned one. Although China hasadjusted and reformed government institutions on many occasions and made some progressin government restructuring since its implementation of reform and opening policies, manyproblems have not been fundamentally solved due to the restrictions imposed by historicalconditions and general environment. Consequently, the incompatibilities of governmentinstitutions with the development of a socialist market economy have become increasinglyapparent. The following problems are most conspicuous in this regard:

　　第一， 政府机构重叠庞大，人浮于事的现象严重，这不仅滋生官僚主义和文牍主义，主张贪污腐败和不正之风，也给国家财政造成了沉重的负担。

　　First, a bloated size and unwieldy organization of government institutions with overlappingfunctions and serious overstaffing have given rise to bureaucracy and red tape, bredcorruption, promoted unhealthy practices, and created a heavy financial burden on the state.