一批新面孔即将进入中国国务院高层

China's legislature starts its annual session this week and is expected to focus on a slate of senior cabinet appointments and proposals for what could become the biggest government restructuring in at least a decade.

The changes are aimed at helping Beijing deal with a range of economic and social challenges.

The full two-week session of the National People's Congress, which starts Wednesday, is an annual occasion for roughly 3,000 delegates to ratify policies by the top political leadership. While the largely rubber-stamp body has little discretion in approving those policies, its meeting provides a forum for the country's most influential politicians to discuss some of the main issues facing China.

This year will also see important changes in the State Council, China's cabinet, following a similar reshuffling of the ruling Communist Party's inner circle at its twice-a-decade National Congress in October. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will be approved for their second five-year terms.

But directly under them will be several new faces, many with extensive experience handling problems in important local-government posts.

Among the appointments, Li Keqiang, a rising political star who recently ran the northeastern industrial province of Liaoning, is expected to be installed as executive vice premier, responsible for macroeconomic policy. Mr. Li is widely seen as being groomed to replace Mr. Wen as premier in five years. Under Mr. Li, former Beijing mayor Wang Qishan will likely be named one of three other vice premiers -- with a key portfolio including the financial sector and foreign trade, Chinese analysts say.

Another noteworthy promotion: Former Shanghai party Secretary Xi Jinping is expected to be named vice president, a largely ceremonial post that nonetheless takes him a step closer to being President Hu's successor five years from now.

In years past, the National People's Congress has focused on adopting important laws to underpin China's increasingly market-oriented economy. Last year, for example, it endorsed legislation strengthening individual property rights and revising corporate taxes.

This year, with little major legislation to be passed, the government appears increasingly focused on fine-tuning its work to address a broad range of challenges: widespread environmental abuse, an economy struggling with rising inflation and other imbalances, and worsening tensions with foreign-trade partners.

The new slate of top officials reflects Beijing's growing desire for leaders experienced at handling difficult problems. Mr. Wang, for example, is widely credited with improving the response to the SARS outbreak in 2003 after he was installed to replace a Beijing mayor who had botched the effort. Mr. Wang also has extensive experience dealing with foreign business leaders, dating to his time in the late 1990s sorting out a massive bankruptcy case that ensnared several big foreign lenders.

The new faces in the cabinet 'will have a strong practical bent,' says Mao Shoulong, a public-administration expert at Beijing's Renmin University. 'That shows the path to the top now starts with grass-roots experience.'

The proposal to restructure the central government is also part of the effort to improve effectiveness, although analysts say that will take time to implement.

Officials recently have begun weighing options to consolidate existing agencies, aimed at implementing President Hu's call for 'big ministries' that can reduce bureaucratic infighting and better implement Beijing's policies at the local level. Those changes could also benefit businesses in such sectors as energy and finance by cutting down on the number of agencies from which they need approvals.

Taken together, the proposed realignments would constitute one of the biggest restructurings since China began market-oriented reforms three decades ago. Party leaders approved a draft plan last month for the restructuring, but the details remain secret.

One proposed change that analysts say could be discussed is the creation of an energy ministry to oversee China's increasingly strained distribution of oil and electricity. Officials have also discussed the possible combination of three big financial-industry regulators into a single large agency covering banking, securities, and insurance. And China's environmental watchdog, the State Environment Protection Agency, could be upgraded to full ministry status, giving it a bigger budget to fight worsening environmental degradation.

All of those ideas face resistance within the bureaucracy. As a result, this National People's Congress session is likely to be just the beginning of a process that could be implemented in stages over several years. Some analysts say the government is mulling 2020 as the deadline for completing them.

In addition to key personnel decisions and the discussion of government realignment, this year's National People's Congress is expected to yield greater clarity on policy for certain industries. Investors and executives in the telecommunications industry are awaiting word on a long-awaited restructuring of China's half-dozen telecom carriers.

The aviation industry, meanwhile, is looking for a clearer signal of the government's position on a takeover battle between two of the three big state-owned airlines.

A key personnel change that isn't expected at the National People's Congress: People's Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan, an internationally respected figure, appears likely to stay, although as recently as October speculation was that he would be replaced.

Analysts say the reversal flows largely from the government's desire to maintain a steady hand on monetary policy at a time of rising inflation and slowing global growth.

中国全国人民代表大会本周将举行年会，会议预计将重点审议国务院一系列高层人事任命，并讨论政府机构改革方案，此次政府机构改革至少是近10年来规模最大的一次。

中国政府旨在通过这些改革更好地应对经济和社会方面的诸多挑战。

为期两周的全国人大年度会议将于周三召开，约3,000名代表与会期间将审议中国领导层提交的各项政策建议。虽然被外界称为“橡皮图章”的人大通常不会对政府提交的政策草案提出什么异议，但其一年一度的大会还是为中国最具影响力的政治人物们提供了一个讨论国家当前最重大问题的论坛。

国务院的人事布局今年也将作重大调整，这是去年10月召开的中共十七大选举出新的中央领导集体后政府层面相应进行的人事调整。国家主席胡锦涛和国务院总理温家宝都将在他们目前职位上继续履职。

但他们的副手中将出现几位新面孔，这些人大多在地方政府中担任过要职，具有处理复杂问题的丰富经验。

在这些新面孔中，不久前在东北工业大省辽宁担任省委书记的李克强是一颗冉冉升起的政治明星，预计他将被任命为国务院常务副总理，负责国家的宏观经济政策。外界普遍认为，李克强在这个职位上经过培养锻炼后将于5年后接替温家宝出任国务院总理。而中国分析人士称，前北京市长王歧山也将被任命为国务院副总理，具体分管金融和外贸。

前上海市委书记习近平预计将被任命为国家副主席，虽然这基本上只是一个象征性职务，但习近平出任此职却是一个引人注目的人事动向，这将使他朝5年后接替胡锦涛出任国家主席又迈近了一步。

广告过去几年中，全国人大集中出台了一系列重要法律，为日益市场化的中国经济起到了保驾护航作用。例如，人大去年就批准了加强对个人财产保护的《物权法》，并在修订、合并以往企业税收法规的基础上颁布了《企业所得税法》。

今年由于没有出台重大法律的计划，政府似乎更多地将工作重点放在了政策微调上，以更好地应对中国目前面临的一系列挑战，如普遍存在的环境破坏、日益严重的通货膨胀及其他经济失衡问题，以及与一些国家的经贸关系日益紧张等。

从这些即将走上政府最高领导岗位的新面孔不难看出，那些擅长处理各类复杂问题的领导人越来越受到重用。以王歧山为例，人们普遍认为，2003年他在非典(SARS)疫情爆发之际临危受命担任北京市长后，领导北京市对这一重大疫情作出了成功应对。王歧山在与外商打交道方面经验丰富，这是他上世纪90年代末受命处理一起大规模银行破产案时得来的，当时几家外国大银行也被牵扯进了这桩案子。

北京中国人民大学公共管理专家毛寿龙说，国务院中的这些新面孔有很强的实践经验，他们的晋升之路显示，在中国现在要想跻身政府高层需从基层做起。

此次提请全国人大审议的国务院机构改革方案是中国在提高政府效率方面的又一努力，不过分析师们说提高政府效率仍任重道远。

中国官员们最近已开始讨论合并现有部委的各项方案，以贯彻胡锦涛主席要求建立“大部委”的要求，大部委机制可以降低官僚机构之间的内耗，从而加强中央政府的各项政策在基层的贯彻实施。这项改革也有可能使能源和金融等领域的企业受益，因为管理这些领域的政府机构将会减少。

国务院机构改革方案中提出的各项措施如能获得批准，将使中国启动改革开放30年以来规模最大的一次政府机构重组。这项方案上个月已在中共十七届二中全会上获得批准，但方案的细节仍未对外公布。

分析师们说，方案的一项内容是组建能源部，以应对中国日益紧张的油、电供应形势。官员们还考虑将现有三大金融业监管机构合而为一，统一监管银行、证券和保险行业。而中国的环境监督机构国家环保总局也有可能被升格为正部级，使它能有更多预算来应对中国不断恶化的环境形势。

上述想法在官僚机构内部受到了抵制，因此它们可能需要在未来几年中分步实施，全国人大本次会议对国务院机构改革方案的审议在这方面可能只是开了个头。有分析师说，中国政府考虑将2020年定为完成这些机构改革计划的最后期限。

除了批准一些重要的人事任命并审议政府机构改革计划外，全国人大本次年会预计还将进一步明确中国对某些产业的政策。投资者和电信业管理人士目前都在等待政府对中国几大电信运营商的重组问题明确表态。

此外，对于中国三大国有航空公司中的两家目前正在上演的收购战，航空业也在等待政府进一步明确立场。

具有国际声望的中国央行行长周小川在此次人大会议上有望获准继续担任这一职务，虽然直到去年10月还有传言说他将被取代。

分析师们说，周小川的仕途出现转机很大程度上是因为，在当前通货膨胀不断加剧以及全球经济增长放缓之际，政府希望维持货币政策的稳定。