Xi vows reforms will be tangible

CPC passes plans for soccer industry, monitoring of judicial interference

Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday vowed to let Chinese people feel the progress of reform measures, after the country's central reform leading group approved reform plans on soccer, judicial independence and the regulation of officials' families.

Xi, leader of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, presided over the meeting and pledged to push and improve reform measures under the rule of law.

A batch of "hard and concrete" measures should be put forward, resistance will be overcome and the "gold content" of reform plans will be shown, Xi said. The measures must target important issues and the public must feel the benefits, he said.

Friday's session approved a reform plan for soccer development to "revitalize soccer, which is necessary to build China into a strong sporting nation," according to a statement issued after the group's meeting. It also passed a reform plan on setting up a system to record officials' instructions, letters and other actions that interfere with legal cases and another plan to encourage citizens to be supervisors in procuratorates.

The leading group endorsed Shanghai's decision to more closely regulate the business activities of its officials' relatives and said the experience will be rolled out nationwide if it is effective.

Held before the Two Sessions, the third session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) and that of the National Committee of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the 10th meeting of the reform group has shed light on the key topics of the Two Sessions, analysts said.

"Though we have gained success in economic development in the last 30 years, many people feel the wealth is unevenly distributed and vested groups, like the families of some local officials, have gathered excessive benefits," Cai Zhiqiang, a professor of Party building with the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told the Global Times.

As the anti-corruption campaign deepens, Cai said, it is time to come out with stricter measures to curb the excessive benefits of vested interests.

"Reducing officials' interference on legal cases and encouraging people to supervise prosecutors are no doubt effective measures to advance the rule of law," Cai added.

As for the soccer reform, Cai said, though being rarely mentioned in political meetings, it represents the will of a huge number of soccer fans and is a matter of national pride on the international stage.

China has only ever qualified for the World Cup once, in 2002, and has a poor record in team sports in general despite its overwhelming performance at the Olympic Games.

As a soccer fan himself, Xi has also repeatedly spurred China's footballers to step up. He once said when visiting Argentina that he hopes to see China hosting the World Cup someday, Xinhua reported.

Friday's meeting proposed earlier identification of talent and the integration of professional clubs, school teams and amateur organizations.

In the past one year, the central reform leading group, which was established upon a decision passed at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and designed to implement all reform measures put forward at the plenum, has passed over 20 documents concerning reforms in various aspects ranging from judicial system, land use to environmental protection and science development.

Xu Yaotong, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said that the group has gradually decoded the Party's general development directions to tangible measures that people can actually see. "That is why Xi said [on Friday] that it will let people feel the effects of reform," Xu said.

The 20-plus documents passed are also in line with the spirit of the "Four Comprehensives," devised by Xi that include comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform, advancing the rule of law and strictly strengthening Party discipline, said Xu.

In the Two Sessions that opens in early March, legislators, officials and political advisors meet to discuss national policies, many plans will be further discussed, voted and polished to become laws, policies and administrative goals, Cai said. NPC deputies will vote on law drafts and government departments' work report at the sessions.

An earlier report published in the People's Daily stated that during the annual two sessions, key decisions made in the 2013 Party congress will become concrete government policies.