Ministries respond to key public concerns

Central ministries and departments responded to a series of public concerns in the past week, including whether passports can be used to take domestic flights, management of bike sharing, gaokao, or the national college entrance examination, and poverty reduction.

Passports for domestic flights

There have been rumors recently that passports will no longer be used for passenger identification on domestic flights. The Ministry of Public Security ruled out such rumors and said that like identity cards, passports can be legitimately used to identify passengers on domestic flights. According to the ministry, an effective identifying certificate, including passports, should be used for ticket purchases, check-in and the security process. If the identifying certificate, such as the ID card, expires, passengers can use a temporary ID card obtained from their local public security department to go through the procedures, the ministry said.

Legal certificates for taking a domestic flight include an ID card, temporary ID card, passport, certificate for military officers, certificate of compulsory military service, certificate of police officers, seaman's book, and other documents, such as certificates for diplomats issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a permanent residence certificate held by foreigners in China.

Those who are under 16 can also use their birth certificates, permanent residence certificate, student certificate or an identifying document issued by local police departments.

Management of bike sharing

The Ministry of Transport held a news conference on May 23 and introduced the country's policy of managing online platform-based bike-sharing services.

China's online bike-sharing platforms have increased rapidly, with more than 30 service providers nationwide, according to a spokesman of the Ministry of Transport. More than 10 million bikes have been put onto the market and more than 100 million people have registered to use the services.

The booming industry has benefited short-distance transportation, facilitated connections between bus and subway services in the cities, and better satisfied public demand. It has also helped ease traffic jams and contributed to the country's building of a green transport system. However, disorderly management has also brought some problems and potential safety risks, the spokesman said.

To tackle those problems, some local governments, such as in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Hangzhou, have released documents on regulation of bike-sharing services to ensure its healthy development. On the basis of collecting public opinions on the services and the existing management rules of local governments, the Ministry of Transport has issued a guideline on encouraging and regulating bike-sharing services.

To tackle the problem of excessive supply of bikes in certain areas, the spokesman suggested that local governments should be encouraged to strengthen industrial management and properly guide enterprises to provide bikes in accordance with local market demand to avoid a waster of resources.

The government will increase funding to build bike-based transport networks and regulate the parking areas of bike-sharing services more strictly to solve the problem of disorderly parking. Punishments will be meted out for enterprises that have failed to abide by relevant management rules. Education campaigns will also be carried out to raise the awareness of bike users of abiding by bike parking rules.

Security check ahead of gaokao

The Ministry of Education has sent seven inspection teams nationwide to conduct security check of testing centers for the annual gaokao, or national college entrance examination, scheduled for June 7 and 8.

The inspection teams will focus on the examination of question secrecy and computer system security as well as coordination of relevant departments in ensuring the smooth operation of the test, the ministry said.

Poverty reduction inputs

The Ministry of Finance said that the country has increased financial input in poverty reduction efforts. This year, the central and local government fiscal funds for poverty reduction exceeded 140 billion yuan ($20.4 billion), it said.

Of the total, the central government earmarked 86.1 billion yuan, 20 billion yuan more than last year, while the local provincial fiscal funds amounted to 54 billion yuan.

xinzhiming@chinadaily.com.cn