Symposium discusses improvements in govt transparency

China has made rapid progress in government transparency, but still needs to improve in the field, officials and experts agreed at a symposium on the topic on Wednesday.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said at the gathering that he has no doubt that the Chinese government and officials will better publicize government information and set an example for the world.

Although China has created laws and regulations covering government transparency, the country still has a long way to go in further empowering people to understand their government, Carter added.

In 2007, the State Council or Cabinet, approved a regulation on publicizing government information that was officially put into use in 2008. Since then, China's government transparency has entered a rapidly developing era.

Sun Wanzhong, chairman of the World Trade Organization Law Research Society, said that in 2011, departments under the Cabinet publicized 1.5 million government documents, and governments at provincial level released more than 28.8 million pieces of information.

According to the China Administrative Transparency Annual Watch, jointly made by Peking University and Yale University, 23 of the 42 central government organs are scored above 60 points, the passing score.

Klaus Rohland, World Bank Representative for China, Mongolia and Korea suggested that an accountability system should be established in all-level governments for information publicity and anti-corruption.

The system will not be built in a day, Rohland added.

Fang Shinan, professor with Soochow University, said government management suffers when officials and staff refuse to adapt themselves to the Information Age.

Ma Huaide, vice president of the China University of Political Science and Law, added that the scale of information publicity should be enlarged and a related legal system be completed, as applicants still have high cost and difficulty in obtaining government data.