On March 11, 2018, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed broad changes to the existing government structure. The number of ministries under the State Council, China’s cabinet, will be reduced by eight to 26, while seven non-ministerial agencies will also be cut. The plan is expected to be endorsed by the National People’s Congress later this week.The key changes included in the State Council reform plan are:

i) CHINA BANKING AND INSURANCE REGULATORY COMMISSION - Will merge banking and insurance regulators and transfer some of their roles to the central bank.

ii) NATIONAL MARKETS SUPERVISION MANAGEMENT BUREAU 

- Will take on the roles of State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), and China Food and Drug Administration. Will also take on pricing supervision and antimonopoly law enforcement role from the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Commerce and State Council.

iii) MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES

- Will replace Ministry of Land & Resources, State Oceanic Administration (SOA) and the National Surveying and Mapping Bureau.

iv) ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY

- Will succeed the Ministry of Environmental Protection and will take over the role on climate change currently held by the state planner, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC). It will also take over water pollution from the Ministry of Land & Resources and agricultural related pollution from the Agriculture Ministry and ocean pollution from the SOA. It will retain the national nuclear safety bureau.

v) MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND TOURISM

- Merges the Ministry of Culture and National Tourism Bureau.

vi) MINISTRY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

 - no change noted 

vii) AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY

-  Will replace Ministry of Agriculture.

vii) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT MINISTRY

- Will be in charge of work safety by taking over national safety production supervision management bureau.

ix) NATIONAL HEALTH COMMISSION

- no change noted 

x) INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION AGENCY

- Will be responsible for forming policies on foreign aid, as well as granting aid and overseeing its implementation.

xi) NATIONAL GRAIN STRATEGIC RESERVES BUREAU

- Will replace national grain bureau and will be in charge of national cotton, sugar and grain reserves.

xii) IMMIGRATION MANAGEMENT BUREAU

- under the Ministry of Public Security.

xiii) NATIONAL FOREST AND GRASS BUREAU

- National Forest Bureau will add grass to its role and take over national resource protection role.

Also, the government’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and State Religious Affairs Bureau will be swallowed up by the CCP CC's United Front Work Department.

Additionally, the powerful Central Small Leading Groups for reform, cybersecurity, economics and finance, and external affairs will be upgraded to committees or commissions; the Party will also establish a Leading Small Group on education policy, including the political indoctrination of students; the CCP's Department of Propaganda will take direct control of film, the news media and publications from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, a government agency; China’s main state-run radio and television broadcasters, domestic and international, will be merged into a single conglomerate called the “Voice of China,” which will be a state entity under the leadership of the party’s propaganda department; The Foreign Experts Bureau is going to be incorporated into a new Science & Technology Ministry; the land/oceans related bureaus will be incorporated into a Natural Resources Ministry; and the cultural/broadcast regulators will be combined.

(Comment: The last such reshuffle of a similar scale happened in 1998 when then Premier Zhu Rongji closed or merged 15 ministries and commissions under the State Council.)