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Update: China overhauls government, tightens control of media

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Update: China overhauls government, tightens control of media

China announced an overhaul of its government structure, including moves which could tighten the ruling Communist Party's control of the media, in a bid to boost efficiency and improve inter-departmental cooperation just days after President Xi Jinping was given the power to rule for life.

More than two dozen ministries and organizations will be affected in the planned central government revamp, which will include the creation of a natural resources ministry and a ministry of ecological environment to centralize water pollution management and oversee climate change issues, the South China Morning Post reported.

A new immigration bureau will be established, as well as a special agency for veterans, and a health commission that will partly replace the family planning commission, SCMP added.

The government also plans to form a state radio and television administration directly under the State Council, the country's cabinet. The proposed administration will draft and implement policies, coordinate the development of broadcasting projects and industries, import radio and television programs, and promote the global expansion of the China's broadcasting and television industry, State Councilor Wang Yong said.

The existing regulator State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television will be abolished, in a bid to "strengthen publicity work, strengthen the management of important propaganda area, and give full play to the role of radio and television media," Yong said.

The planned government overhaul, the biggest in years, follows a vote by lawmakers on March 11 to remove presidential term limits.

"Deepening the reform of the party and state institutions is an inevitable requirement for strengthening the long-term governance of the party," Liu He, Xi's top economic adviser, said in a commentary in People's Daily.

Beijing will create ministries for emergency management, agriculture and rural affairs, and culture and tourism. The national intellectual property rights bureau will be restructured, Reuters reported, citing a parliamentary document released March 13.

The audit office will be expanded, taking over supervisory functions from the economic planning agency and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Local branches of state and local taxation administrations will be combined, SCMP said.

A new market supervision bureau will handle various market regulatory functions, including anti-monopoly issues. Insurance and banking regulators will also be merged into a single organization.

If the plan is approved, China's cabinet will consist of 26 ministries and commissions in addition to the General Office of the State Council. The National People's Congress is expected to approve the plan on March 17, said Reuters.