In Chinese administrative law, the term “appropriate agency” refers to any agency appropriate to a matter. The modern concept is an evolution of the ancient Chinese word “yousi,” which, in Imperial times, referred to the appropriate official to govern a matter. Currently, this term is frequently used in government administration reports, official statements, and press conferences to indicate that a certain government agency is responsible without explicitly naming that agency.

The use of such vague language by Chinese writers stems from unclear jurisdictional definitions among various government agencies, resulting in instances where a matter could concurrently fall under the jurisdiction of several different agencies, yet none of these agencies has the capability to resolve the issue independently. The authors of government administration reports often lack comprehensive knowledge of which agencies are appropriate to resolve a matter or wish to obfuscate such information and, as a result, use the politically safe term “appropriate agencies” to ensure there is no error. For example, Chinese foreign investment law has two parallel, concurrent regulators that divide jurisdiction.

Cultural Implications

The Communist Party of China website offers further insights, translated to English in a classic article, that can shed light on the intended meaning of the phrase:

A shadow often crosses the pages of government reports and websites […}

Curiously, if certain tasks were done effectively, or an incident was resolved, we will see which division gets the credit. However, if the subject of the report is an incident that happened, we instead see the “appropriate agency” emerge: The “appropriate agency” is investigating the matter, or “the appropriate agency” has taken action, etc.

Comparative Law

In the United States and other countries, the notion of an appropriate agency developed much later than in China, largely after the bureaucratic administrative systems observed in China were popularized in the UK and elsewhere. In early United States history, the Indian Agent Act empowered individuals to act as agents for the government. Later on, these individual agents for Washington developed into modern administrative agencies. China’s use of agents working on behalf of the emperor, or the ancient official-in-charge designation, is similar to the European system but remained much more advanced than the European system until the UK enacted bureaucratic reforms modeled on China.

Further Reading

See our comprehensive resources on China’s Foreign Investment Law.

Translation Guide

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