Fast growth is no longer the fast track on the official career path. At least that’s what the city of Shenyang is trying to tell its Communist Party cadres.
According to the People’s Daily, the Shenyang government is changing its rating system for officials, lowering the scores for economic development and GDP growth while adding points for “reform and innovation” and environmental protection (in Chinese).
Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province and the largest city in northeastern China, used to be the home of the nation’s iron and steel industry and was best known for its forest of smokestacks and chimneys. Now the city is hoping to reduce its dependence on heavy industry and erase its reputation for soot and smog.
The newspaper said that “food and drug safety” and “public health and safety” will be added to improving people’s livelihood, increasing employment and ensuring housing security in the calculations of which officials get promoted – and which fall behind.
An official at the municipal government confirmed that the change had been made though he was unable to provide further details on the actual scoring system.
China’s Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said in November last year that China could no longer “choose its heroes according to economic growth records alone.” Improvements in daily life, social progress, environmental protection and other indicators all had to be taken into account, he added.
Premier Li Keqiang, speaking at the annual session of parliament in March, also tried to address mounting public concerns over the pollution that has accompanied economic growth by saying that China was no longer chasing fast growth at any price. He said employment was now the government’s top concern.
Chen Haibo, mayor of Shenyang, has echoed those sentiments.
“The threshold for environmental protection will be much higher this year,” he said at a meeting of the local legislature early this year.
The mayor also noted that Shenyang’s economic growth target would be 9% this year – its lowest level in over a decade. Last year, growth in Shenyang came in at 10%, down from 11% the previous year, according to the provincial government’s official news site.
China has some of the best environmental laws on the planet, but the rewards for breaking them have long outweighed the penalties. If Shenyang follows through, and other cities follow suit, it could be very good news for China’s environment.
via Growth Not Good Enough: Chinese City Changes the Rules – China Real Time Report – WSJ.
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