China: Beijing Streamlines Crisis Management

The Chinese government has established a new General Watch Office to coordinate emergency response measures for situations ranging from natural disasters to social instability and terrorist attacks. The new office is an attempt to bypass the extremely sluggish bureaucracy and avoid allowing problems to fester so long that they multiply. The new office's effectiveness will depend upon its makeup, authority and resources, but its inception is a recognition of the problems the central government faces, and represents another move toward recentralization.