New legislation would make more info public (China Daily by Xiao Liu) Updated: 2004-02-25 00:28 Beijing municipal authorities are considering
making some information about government officials public while examining the
definition of a State secret.
According to new legislation proposed by the Beijing Municipal Office of
Information, the government would publish data that has, until now, been
considered to inflict on the privacy of officials, sources told China Daily.
"We believe that some personal affairs of governmental officials, such as
their income, could be made public," Wang Yu, an official with the regulation
department of the information office said Tuesday.
At the same time, the definition of a State secret, which has sometimes been
used as an excuse for governments to keep information away from eyes of the
public, would be examined and possibly re-evaluated, sources said.
Part of the motivation are the changes in China's society. What was once
considered a secret, may no longer be one.
Wang's office released the draft legislation last week and opened it up to
comments from the public.
According to the draft, personal details, duties and post changes of local
governmental officials will have to be made public.
"This is only a draft. We will add more things to it if residents believe
they need know more about officials," Wang said.
The government will leave the draft legislation open to opinions and comments
until April.
But the official emphasized that his office is only responsible for drafting
the legislation and does not have final say.
"We will hand in the draft to the Beijing municipal government's Legal
Affairs Office for a formal version. It still needs final approval from the
municipal government," he said.
The released draft, however, protects private information of residents
collected by the authorities and forbids the publication of State secrets.
"The definition of State secret in our draft refers to that in the State law
to ensure State secret, which was approved by the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress in 1988," Wang said.
But Wang said some of the definitions of a State secret are already out of
date and need to be further revised.
"We were asked for an opinion on the issue last year and were informed that
the law is expected to be revised," he said. This was not confirmed by other
authorities Tuesday.
The Guangzhou Municipal Bureau for the Protection of State Secrets made
public over 100,000 pieces of information last year which were previously
defined as State secrets.
Previous draft legislation that protected media outlets that released
information on public figures, was deleted before it was submitted to the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 2002.
One example that highlighted the need for such protection was an accusation
brought by Zhang Xide, former Party Chief of the Linquan County in Northwest
China's Gansu Province, against authors of a best seller -- Investigation into
Chinese farmers -- for infringement into his right of fame.
Zhang claims the book's assertions that he beat down appeals by local farmers
to higher authorities are not true.
He asks for 200,000 yuan (US$24,200) in compensation.
The draft legislation says the government must release information about any
epidemics, disasters and accidents in the capital city.
Another 14 items of governmental information that must be released are also
listed.
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|