Chapter 3 Chapter 1 Beijing Office: Local "Second Administrative Center"?

Unfettered power inevitably corrupts, and absolute power leads to absolute corruption; morality cannot restrain power, and power can only be restrained by rights. If the "Beijing Office" is caught in "entertainment" and "reception" affairs and cannot escape, it is very likely to evolve into an irrational second "administrative center" set up by the local government in the capital. In Beijing, the Beijing offices of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and their prefectural, city, and county liaison offices in Beijing (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Offices") can be seen everywhere. A unique landscape.

According to the data provided by the Beijing Office Management Department of the State Council Administration Bureau, as of May 25, 2005, provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, special economic zones, and central-level large enterprises have established 52 offices in Beijing.However, the reporter's investigation found that there are countless unapproved large state-owned enterprises and local governments, or a certain department of the local government that has set up offices and liaison offices in Beijing. The "Beijing Office" has played an important role in promoting the economic development of the dispatched areas and the capital Beijing.However, due to various reasons, in recent years, the number of job-related crimes committed by staff members of the "Beijing Office" has been on the rise. Corruption cases in many provinces (municipalities, districts) that have shocked the country have included relevant persons in charge of the Beijing-based offices.

In fact, the unconventional operation mode of the "Beijing Office" makes it a very delicate and special position in the entire sequence of government agencies, and the problems derived from this urgently need to be regulated and resolved by the competent national authorities. A few days ago, Beijing's official website "Window of the Capital" issued "Several Regulations on the Offices of Foreign Governments (Enterprises) in Beijing", welcoming governments and enterprises from all over the world to set up offices in Beijing.It stipulates: "Government departments under the jurisdiction of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the people's governments of prefecture-level cities, including administrative offices, the people's governments of prefectures, leagues, and districts, and the people's governments of counties or county-level cities, and enterprises above designated size in various regions may set up business in Beijing. The city will set up a liaison office in Beijing."

The reporter learned that the historical origin of the "Beijing Office" can be traced back to the early years of hometown associations and guild halls.At that time, its functions were nothing more than communicating the connection between the hometown and the capital, receiving local officials who came to Beijing on business trips and students from their hometown who came to Beijing for exams, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of hometown people in Beijing, and so on.With the development of the times, the "Beijing Office" is not just a name change, but its functions and functions have already been greatly enriched and expanded.

From the early 1990s to the present, the "Beijing Offices" of various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government have built office buildings in Beijing that integrate liaison, reception, and service functions. These offices in Beijing occupying prime locations in the capital are generally named after the province The buildings where they are named are almost all star-rated luxury hotels. The reception objects and service functions of the "Beijing Office" have also undergone tremendous changes. There are two main functions: one is to attract investment, go to ministries and commissions, ask for projects, and collect information; staff etc.

An official from a certain province in East China, who did not want to be named, told reporters that in a sense, the "Beijing Office" has become the "embassy" of local governments and party committees in Beijing. The huge energy of activities in the capital and the impact on the economic development of the dispatched area are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. There is such an extreme example. At around 3:40 p.m. on May 12, 2002, Mr. Gao Fushui in Beijing personally verified the "bullness" of the "Beijing Office"—it doesn't matter if he is overturned by a car, and he was beaten violently by the perpetrator.The "bully" perpetrator yelled while beating people: "Do you know what I do?" The reason why this master dared to be so "bully" was because he had a special identity——Heilongjiang Province Staff of the Beijing Office of the Department of Communications.

The reporter learned that the similar sense of superiority of the staff of the "Beijing Office" generally comes from their "supernatural powers".They have their own "contact map", and the network of relationships is crisscross.The heads of these Beijing-based agencies who shuttle between various national ministries and commissions and relevant units in Beijing have indeed done a lot of work for the local economic development and construction, especially in the development of multi-level and multi-channel horizontal economic cooperation and public relations. , Contributed to the development of the hometown.

Of course, the supernatural powers of the "Beijing Offices" are inseparable from their usual painstaking efforts.Every New Year's Eve, each "Beijing Office" will invite local leaders to Beijing, invite "hometown people" who have positions and positions, and hold grand "Spring Festival Reunions", "Hometown Associations" and "Friendship Parties". There is only one purpose: to connect the feelings among the "citizens", to weave and expand the relationship network in Beijing. "Generally speaking, being able to do what the leader wants and meeting the people he wants to see is the minimum requirement for the director of the 'Beijing Office'." Therefore, it is convenient to conduct "public relations" with relevant leaders and higher-level competent departments. It has become the primary task of the "Beijing Offices", and communicating with leaders has also become a special study of the "Beijing Offices".

Is it necessary to adopt this unconventional mode of operation? The director of the “Beijing Office” of a certain city in Guangdong Province asked the reporter: “Now the local government wants to approve projects and raise funds. If they don’t establish a good relationship with the relevant functional departments of the central government, how can they make a difference?” A director of the “Beijing Office” in a certain city in Sichuan Province once said frankly in an interview with reporters: “My job is to deliver gifts to the leaders without any trace. When it comes to public relations, it is the preference for the heads of ministries, commissions, and bureaus. I know it well, and then accompany them to play cards, travel, drink, listen to operas, or buy calligraphy, paintings, and antiques. Gifts don’t need to be expensive. If they are expensive, they will cause trouble for others, and they can’t be too cheap. The key is to match what they like.”

His work motto is: "Everything is based on the satisfaction of the leaders, everything is based on attracting investment, and everything is based on project services." Compared with the above-mentioned tasks, the directors of the "Beijing Office" feel that they are the most time-consuming. The most helpless and troublesome task is to welcome and send local officials or their family members to Beijing. "Picking up and dropping off the airport, arranging meals, drinks, accommodation, transportation and shopping are the most basic. We must also listen to opinions from time to time. Since we are here, we must think about everything and do it well so that they can come and go happily. "

A staff member of the "Beijing Office" in a certain city in Jiangsu revealed that before a local leader comes to Beijing, the "Beijing Office" has already given the leader the room he likes to live in, the food he likes to eat, the vehicle he travels, the entourage, and the schedule of his visit to Beijing. It has been arranged in detail, and it must be checked carefully, not daring to be negligent. The person in charge of the "Beijing Office" in a certain area of ​​Hunan Province told the reporter helplessly: "When some leaders or their family members come to the office, it is like the emperor in the past when he came to the 'palace'. The office has to provide round-the-clock services. I have worked as a Director, I don’t know how many times I’ve been to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. I can’t afford not to accompany you, and I can’t afford to offend anyone.” All the expenses of officials and their families after coming to Beijing are basically paid by the office’s public funds.If a principled leader pays a little for accommodation or meals, "everyone will find it incredible."The person in charge also revealed: "Some leaders sometimes say that they don't live in the 'Beijing Office' and 'don't cause trouble to the comrades in the office'. But this does not mean that the 'Beijing Office' is fine. On the contrary, people who know each other At one point, the leader must be arranged to live in a five-star hotel. It costs several thousand yuan a night, which is equivalent to the entire annual income of a peasant family in our area!" In fact, the name of the person in charge of the "Beijing Office" has frequently appeared in some major corruption cases that have caused shocks across the country in recent years— In the case of Li Zhen, the former head of the State Taxation Bureau of Hebei Province, Wang Fuyou (director level), the former director of the Beijing Office of the Hebei Provincial Government, was sentenced to life imprisonment for three crimes of embezzlement, embezzlement, and bribery; in the case of Cheng Kejie, the government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Li Yihong, deputy director of the Beijing office, was investigated for bribery; in the Shenyang "Muma case", Cui Li (at the main hall level), the director of the Shenyang Beijing office, was punished for extorting bribes and embezzling public funds; Na Fengqi, director of the Daqing State Taxation Bureau In the case of corruption and bribery, Li Hongbo, the former deputy director of the Daqing Office in Beijing, colluded with Na Fengqi and was investigated for corruption; Zhan Min (deputy department level), the former deputy director of the Beijing Office of the Guangzhou Municipal Government and the deputy director of the Guangzhou Building Preparation Office in Beijing, accepted bribes 200,000 yuan was investigated and dealt with; former director of Jiangsu Provincial Office in Beijing Wu Tingxiang (director level) was sentenced to 19 years in prison for bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and dereliction of duty... During the interview, the reporter learned that there are two main reasons why the above-mentioned person in charge of the "Beijing Office" with great powers has fallen into the abyss of crime: First, management and supervision are out of control.According to Article 12 of the "Functions of the State Council Administration Bureau", the bureau is "responsible for the management and coordination of the Beijing offices of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and sub-provincial cities." However, the "Beijing offices" Personnel, administrative management, business work, and ideological and political work are mainly managed by the dispatched departments.At the same time, the management bureau also "assistantly dispatched units to manage the leading party and government cadres in each office, conduct supervision and inspection, and deal with violations of laws and disciplines." Putting human rights in the hands of the local government, the Administration of Government Affairs of the State Council is just a macro-guidance organization, and has no right to interfere with the daily work of the "Beijing Office".However, the "unconventional" operation methods of the "Beijing Office" in daily work often enjoy various "immunities", and most of the local governments turn a blind eye. Second, functional alienation forms a chain of corruption.Some "Beijing Offices" nominally seek central government preferential policies and business development opportunities for local development, but in fact their functions have been alienated, and serving local party and government officials has become their main job responsibility. A few corrupt local party and government officials use the "Beijing Office" to seek opportunities for promotion and fortune, or seek political backing. Whenever there is trouble, they immediately collude with each other and spend money to buy their way. During the interview, some experts and scholars questioned whether it is necessary for local governments at all levels to set up "Beijing Offices".They believe that although the "Beijing Office" has played an important role in promoting the economic development of the dispatched area and the capital, the social cost paid is very high.In today's world of convenient transportation, highly developed electronic communications, and booming online transactions, it is debatable whether the functions of the "Beijing Office" should be strengthened or weakened. "The 'Beijing Office' should properly return to its public service function to minimize negative impact." Professor Mao Shoulong, a doctoral supervisor of the Department of Administration and Management of Renmin University of China, believes that if the "Beijing Office" is caught in "entertainment" and "reception" affairs Unable to escape, it is very likely to evolve into an irrational second "administrative center" set up by the local government in the capital. He suggested that the "Beijing Offices" of governments at all levels should appropriately broaden the connotation of people-oriented, return to their true colors, and play a role with greater space and wider meaning in petitioning, social coordination, and solving the difficulties of foreigners entering Beijing. "If necessary, public platforms can also be used to provide specific service guides, such as the scope and conditions of assistance that citizens can obtain when entering Beijing, as well as emergency assistance numbers and addresses. The 'Beijing Office' must not only serve the leaders personally The 'Beijing Office' is justifiably 'specialized'. Of course, if the capital develops these public service functions well in the future, the 'Beijing Office' functions in this regard can also be weakened as much as possible." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University, believes that a feasible long-term supervision and management mechanism should be established in the management of the "Beijing Office". "To solve the problem of out-of-control supervision of the "Beijing Office" requires a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, the central government will clean up the "Beijing Offices" large and small. Those that should be reserved should be retained, and those that should be revoked must be revoked. The reserved ones must be registered and compiled. , standardized management, financial transparency, and accepting audits. On the other hand, it is necessary to increase the transparency of the project approval process of relevant ministries and commissions, and give corresponding restrictions to the overly concentrated project approval power. Terminate the source drive of "Beijing Office" and "money in from the department" force." Du Liyuan, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm, suggested that the national audit department should conduct a unified and strict independent audit of the "Beijing Office" every year; Register their address with the organization department. "Considering management from the perspective of the rule of law, it is best for the State Council to formulate the "Regulations on the Administration of Beijing Offices of Foreign Governments (Enterprises)" to clarify the institutional positioning, supervisory authority, and legal responsibilities of the 'Beijing Office', etc., so that It can make advantages and eliminate disadvantages, and manage strictly." Du Liyuan said.