More than 240 scientific research institutes have been separated, merged or axed in Beijing's plan to streamline the bureaucracy, it was reported yesterday.
The institutes - all under the State Economic and Trade Commission - were separated from the Government this month, the semi-official Hong Kong China News Agency said.
They were the pioneers in Beijing's plan to streamline shiye danwei - administrative units - the news agency said.
It said there were 1.14 million administrative units on the mainland employing more than 28 million people. Strictly speaking, the units are not government departments but their employees enjoy the same perks and privileges as cadres.
When Premier Zhu Rongji took over the State Council in March last year, he announced such units would be significantly scaled down in line with his plan to halve the central bureaucracy. Since then, little progress has been made in the reform of the units.
However, the news agency said the reductions had finally taken off. It said 131 of 242 research institutes originally under the commission had been absorbed by enterprises. Another 40 were taken over by local authorities as independent commercial companies.