Update | Xi shakes up Chinese government to cut bureaucracy, end turf wars

China unveiled an ambitious plan to revamp its central government structure, with more than two dozen ministries and organisations affected, two days after President Xi Jinping secured the right to stay in power indefinitely.

The sweeping institutional changes are part of Xi’s plan to improve the Communist Party’s governing efficiency by shaking up vested interests among agencies. They include the merger of the banking and insurance regulators, and the setting up of special agencies to oversee issues related to immigration and military veterans.

While the internal power realignment is aimed at strengthening one-party rule, an analyst said the new government line-up in some ways resembled the structure in Washington.

Mao Shoulong, a public administration professor at Renmin University of China, said Beijing had borrowed a few ideas from the United States to improve its government structure.

“So for example, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs follows the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the planned immigration administration is China’s answer to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services,” Mao said, referring to two of the new agencies.

“It is also a plan aimed at very Chinese problems, such as a lack of communication and turf wars between different government institutions – these are long-standing problems that require strong leadership to solve,” Mao said. “With Xi, the strong leadership is here.”