since 1988, the chinese government has authorized direct village elections to help maintain social and political order in the context of rapid economic reforms. at the invitation of china’s ministry of foreign affairs, the carter center initiated a joint project in 1998 to standardize chinese village election procedures and assist in training of election officials and elected national people’s congress deputies. in 2011, the carter center was asked by the chinese government to no longer observe elections and instead focus on advancing the us- china relationship.