The declassification of the death toll in natural disasters is a giant step forward, says an article in Beijing News. An excerpt follows:

The death toll in natural disasters will no longer be regarded as a state secret, going by a press conference held jointly by the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets and the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Monday.

These two government bodies have declassified the death toll from natural disasters since last month.

It is a move that shows the country's growing confidence and maturity, a sign of progress.

The declassification of these figures is of great significance to disaster prevention and crisis management.

The decision to regard the death toll resulting from natural disasters as a State secret was made in a historical context. However, as times and conditions have changed, the continuation of treating such figures as State secrets is at odds with our disaster-relief efforts and is also not in accordance with the general practices of the international community.

Declassification of the death toll from disasters and allowing it into the public domain can make the public well informed and be helpful in eliciting their views on how to conduct disaster relief.

Making public the natural disaster death toll is also conducive to disciplining corrupt officials.

Some local officials, under the cover of protecting State secrets, often downplay or conceal the real figures for personal gain, which is detrimental to public and national interests.

The SARS crisis in early 2003 well illustrated this. It was the timely and prompt information transparency that helped us to win this battle against the deadly infectious disease.

The State is the protector of interests of all its citizens. In this sense, the State will only keep something secret for the sake of the interests of its nationals.

And making public the natural disaster death toll is conducive to the government's management of social affairs. So it is reasonable to declassify such figures.

(China Daily 09/17/2005 page4)