Official in Jiangsu empowered by 'fault tolerance'

A Chinese official in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, has been promoted despite violating regulations while pushing forward a significant industrial project. The case highlights China's evolving "fault tolerance" mechanisms, designed to encourage innovation and risk-taking among officials.

The official, identified only by the surname Xie, was cited by the discipline inspection commission of Huai'an's Qingjiangpu district for allowing omissions in technical indicators during a civil air defense inspection for the SF Huai'an Innovation Industrial Park project. The project, a key endeavor for Huai'an in 2023, was launched to establish an e-commerce enterprise service platform and a smart logistics base.

In June 2023, the project's construction company sought civil air defense inspection. However, due to a lack of specific technical indicators for the second phase, it couldn't proceed through the standard approval process. Xie then proposed a phased, fault-tolerant approval, requiring the company to commit to rectifying deficiencies at a later stage. This enabled the first phase to secure a construction permit, advancing the project by three months and saving the company more than 2 million yuan ($279,000). As a result, the civil air defense inspection was fully completed by September 2023.