CHINESE GOVERNMENT TRUST CRISIS

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK?

What's interesting about the news article, below, from The People's Daily is that it directly addresses Chinese people's distrust of local government.  Though 86% of Chinese trust and admire the central government, in some provinces there is trust a gap between them and local Party officials.  (This is why Mao launched his Cultural Revolution and made officials answerable to local people.  The problem remains.)

Americans' distrust of their government has risen to an unsustainable level.  Almost 82% distrust our Federal government and feel that it is heading in the wrong direction.  Yet there is no address to this scandal, and no attempt at reform.

People's Daily warns of "trust crises" between officials, public

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Thursday warned of cases of "trust crises" that could undermine the authority of local governments, lead to the government's incompetence in handling similar "mass incidents" and a decline in its social management capability, and negatively impact social harmony.

Moreover, the commentary said that as the establishment of the CPC's rule is based on the support of the people, individual cases of public distrust and the amplification of such cases could consume the political resources sustaining the Party's rule. This is why Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has seriously warned that the Party is confronted with the growing danger of being divorced from the people, the commentary said.

The commentary noted that in many mass incident cases, officials' ignorance of the public's voice, an absence of due supervision of power and injustice in interest allocations are among the major causes of the problems. To solve the problem and lay a solid foundation for trust between the public and the officials, efforts should be made to regulate administrative power and reconcile opposing interests, it said.

It is the most fundamental test for a grassroots government to win the solid trust and support of the public, maintain the closest ties with the masses and work for the welfare of the people, the commentary said.