"The central departments and governments at various levels are compiling catalogues of government affairs that need to be made public, focusing on issues of public concern and pertaining to their immediate interest," the National Leading Group for Publicizing Government Affairs said in a statement.

The statement, released at a press conference on government transparency held by the State Council Information Office, said the process of executing administrative powers would be made more transparent to the public, either on their own initiative or on request.

Gan Yisheng, deputy chief of the leading group, said governments at various levels had "creatively" worked out ways of making governance affairs public in accordance with the requirement that "publicizing is the principle while non-publicizing is the exception."

He revealed that the State Council is drafting a regulation, to be completed by the end of this year, on the release of government information.

Except State and business secrets, and personal privacy, government information and processes should be made public to society or recipients of the service in accordance with procedures and time limits, according to Gan.

From open competition in selecting officials and bidding for government projects to having officials reporting on job and anti-corruption performance, the government has become more transparent, sources in the leading group said.

This has put government work under the direct supervision of the masses, and helped stem corruption, they added.

To ensure every citizen has access to information, governments at, or below, county-level have either put up information boards or issued information cards to the public; and higher-level governments have regularly issued bulletins, Gan said.

Four-fifths of county-level governments or above have set up websites for releasing information, and local governments have opened consultation hot lines.

(China Daily 09/27/2006 page1)