Government Responsibility for Governance of Water Environment in China

How to effectively improve water environment has aroused the universal attention of Chinese society. This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the attributes of the water regime as a public goods and the objective water regime. It demonstrates the necessity for the government to bear the responsibility for governance of the water regime. Further, the article studies governance responsibilities currently undertaken by the Chinese government. A thorough analysis describing the realistic problem of government's responsibility dealing with water regime revealed that problems can be characterized as being in part attributed to: a vague boundary of responsibility entities, "administrative" dominance in the distribution of responsibility, coexistence of "offside" and "absence" in the fulfillment of responsibility, and more importance attached to direct investment than to indirect guidance in the categories of responsibility. Finally, the article proposed that China should set up regulatory and management authorities to administer the water regime, its natural responsibility in water and environmental policy. This governance structure should initially adopt methods as classification, itemization and hierarchization.