1st Ld-Writethru-China Focus: Competent officials to help rural peers

Officials from across China will be reassigned to poor and remote villages in an attempt to tackle development problems and consolidate the Communist Party of China (CPC) rural network.

The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee announced Thursday that it will select competent officials and send them to underdeveloped areas as village party chiefs.

Officials will come from a wide range of fields, including government departments, universities, state-run enterprises and civil associations, said a statement from the department. They are required to have a high sense of responsibility and devotion to duty with at least two years of working experience and outstanding performance assessments.

Their main task will be to improve the village Party mechanisms and solve local problems, especially those associated with poverty.

In a tenure of one to three years, they should focus on solving the most urgent local issues. They will be assisted by local village committees, poverty relief offices and agricultural departments so they can grasp the local situation, work out priorities and get along with villagers.

Such a move is rare nationwide though similar measures have been adopted by some local Parties.

Prof. Xie Chuntao, with the Party school of the CPC Central Committee, told Xinhua that it could help underdeveloped villages to catch up with richer villages and urban areas.

As one of China's two prominent development targets, the country aims to build "a moderately prosperous society in all aspects" by 2020, but the gap between rural and urban populations remains large, especially between the poorest and most remote parts and the booming megacities.

In 2014, 70 million people were still living on an annual income of less than 2,300 yuan (373 US dollars). The per capita annual disposable income of Beijing's urban residents was about 44,000 yuan.

The less developed the region, the more people leave to make a living elsewhere and the region becomes more deserted.

"One of the most outstanding problems in today's Chinese villages is that the young and competent have left for cities and only the old and unskilled remain," Xie said.

China has put a lot of effort into solving this problem. Since early this century, the government has hired college graduates to work as village officials on a large scale. About 200,000 young people are currently in such positions.

Assigning a village party chief from outside is a big step up, compared to hiring college graduates to work in villages, Xie said.

"A village party chief is an important decision maker. Graduates mostly work as assistants. A competent party chief can greatly improve village governance," he said.

Most village party chiefs are selected from native villagers. "They may have the villagers' respect but may not be in the best shape to improve things, be a contact point with the outside world or raise local incomes," he said.

"The CPC is proud of its history in the most remote and neediest part of the country, relying on the force of farmers to finally win the fight to rule the country. However, in recent years there have been many problems in village party organs." Xie said. Endi