1. Xinmin Evening News: I’m from Xinmin Evening News. I’ve three questions. The first question is for Mr Liu Jian from the city information technology commission. The citizens find it difficult to understand some government policies and documents. Are there some channels to help them understand? The second question is for Mr Liu Ping from the city government’s legal affairs office. The program of disclosing government information has involved many cases on administrative lawsuit and administrative reconsideration, could you give us a general picture of the program? The third question is for the government spokesman. The other day, I was trying to get the number of people covered by the agreement insurance program in the city and called the labor department. An employee answering the phone said their leader had to be consulted before giving me an answer. When I called again half an hour later, he asked me what on earth I asked the question for. I felt at that moment that I was embarrassing him and decided to quit. I told him that“okay, you may refuse to answer the question if it was hard on you.”What do you think of this incidence? Thank you!

Liu Jian: Good question. This is where we should put more efforts next. It’s been four years since we launched the government information disclosing program where we’ve done a lot of work to give more details and develop more channels. Your question is actually about how to improve the quality of this service. There remains a question for the public how to interpret the regulations the government releases, including those documents on regulations and policies. Next we’re planning to interpret those documents loaded with technical terms and policy jargons. For example, we may adopt the popular form of Q&A. For documents on regulations, we will publish notes explaining the drafting of these documents.

Liu Jian: Ok, something about disclosing government information on administrative lawsuit and reconsideration. The local citizens have participated actively in the program. Other provinces were earlier than Shanghai in initiating the program, but citizens there have made fewer requests on making public government information and the governments face a smaller pressure than us. The number of administrative reconsideration cases requested for open information was 112 in 2006 and 227 in 2007, accounting for 60.2 percent and 67.2 percent, respectively, of the total number the city government handled within the year. Of course, there have been, relatively speaking, fewer administrative lawsuits, which totaled 154 in the past four years, a small proportion in all the administrative lawsuits. We consider this as a good phenomenon, in that:
One, it shows that the public has a strong sense of upholding their rights through legal channels.
Two, the administrative reconsideration and lawsuit are part of a good mechanism to promote administration in line with laws and regulate administrative manners. These measures can uncover illegal and improper administrative actions, which are then to be rectified. The program has an obvious effect of“back-pressuring.”

Chen Qiwei: I also came across the problem when I was working in the media before. Firstly, I suggest you contact the spokesperson for each government department before you start an interview. Most of the departments have a spokesperson who is obliged to answer the reporters’questions.
Secondly, I think the government departments should realize the importance of the open information system. Today’s People’s Daily published an exclusive interview of Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, who voiced his clear standpoint on the system. When we’re having the press conference here, the mayor is answering questions about the system face-to-face from the citizens and Netizens on the city government’s portal Website. So I think the departments must all do their part for the open information system.

2. ICS: I’m from ICS When Mr Liu Ping introduced the information disclosing program, he said disclosing is the principle with exceptions of holding back. How shall we differ the information that can be made known from what cannot? The second question is for Mr Liu Jian. There are many channels to make public the government information but the citizens are not clear about them. Is it possible to rearrange the current channels and develop more channels? The third question is, there are more and more expatriates in the city, and what shall we do to make sure the information is open for them?

Liu Ping: Thank you for the professional questions. It is a quite popular way to say“disclosing is the principle with exceptions of holding back.”In fact, when saying disclosing is the principle, we mean the government information to include: one, the public information, which doesn’t concern a certain individual but applies to all the public or many people; and two, individuals’information, which refers to the information on a certain individual or enterprise. For these two types of information I think it is easy to tell the difference. We make public the first type of information as much as possible, following the rule of“disclosing is the principle with exceptions of holding back.”The information that we cannot make public includes: one, state secrets; two, information that concerns state security, economic security, public security and social stability. The individuals’information, if it is a commercial secret or personal privacy, will be covered by the rule of“disclosing is the principle with exceptions of holding back.”The National People’s Congress is drafting the Law on Protection of Personal Information, and commercial secrets and personal privacy are not to be made public. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule too, such as, one, the person involved consents (to disclosing the information); two, the information also concerns public interest, that is, the administrative departments are in a position to make it public if the protection of public interests prevails over protection of the your commercial secret or privacy. For example, in case of an emergency, like a suspected food and drugs problem that is still under investigation, the government can make it public because it is related to safety of people’s life. This is what is called“exception of making public.”So generally speaking, we make public as much information as possible and keep a small proportion secret while make public the remaining part of the government information upon request. Thank you.

Liu Jian: You asked about the channels, and our plan can be summarized as:
One, to improve. We’ve eight channels now, including the government spokesperson system, government portal Website, Citizen Mailbox and Archives Office. We’re going to improve these channels to make them more accessible to the public and further meet their demand.
Two, to replenish. It is to turn the public libraries into a channel for citizens to look up the government information, as required by the state Regulations. A section for government information checking has been set up at the Shanghai Library, and we’re going to promote the work at district-level libraries.
Three, to integrate. I think it’s a very important step to improve our services. We’ve done a lot of work to integrate the curren channels and other platforms. On the one hand, we integrated the government hotlines last year. The hotlines have become an important channel in addition to the online service. The city has 3,285 hotlines for complaint and consultation. The“114 Enquire Line”we established jointly with China Telecom has been able to automatically switch incoming enquiry calls to relevant departments. This year we plan to make this enquiry line accessible to information on key issues for government administrative approval, important events, office addresses and contacts. It will serve as a databank for citizens to check and as a government hotline and an important channel to disclose government information. On the other hand, we’re going to integrate the existent information platforms into the e-government program. For example, we’re planning a citywide administrative approval platform, which will handle all the administrative approval issues and non-administrative approval issues, which are now in the charge of different government departments. The platform is put under effective online supervision for application, approval outcome and process of being handled. Thank you.

Chen Qiwei: Now Mr Liu Ping will answer the question about how the expatriates can check the government information.

Liu Ping: The answer to the question is not available in our“Statute”nor in the“Regulations,”but the government information disclosing service is designed for those that is put under administrative management. The government information is a means of ensuring the citizens’right to know, which in turn is a means of ensuring their right to expression and the right to supervision. All those expatriates and overseas people who live and work in Shanghai are entitled to the right and obligation to oversee whether the government is administrating in line with law, so we are not to impose restrictions on them in this respect. From the legal point of view, we follow the principle of reciprocity in granting foreigners the right to request the government information to be made public. That’s to say we grant the right to the citizens of a foreign country where Chinese are given citizenship. Of course, the principle of reciprocity doesn’t require a written agreement. As we know, foreign countries don’t set requirement on nationality in making known the government information, so foreigners on the Chinese mainland are on the same footing as Chinese in request for the government information. By the principle of reciprocity, we should acknowledge the foreigners’request. In addition, the right to request for the information is granted to Taiwan compatriots living and working in Shanghai. Thank you!

3. Caijing Magazine: I’m from Caijing Magazine. I’ve two questions. The central government is reshuffling its ministries, and will the Shanghai Informatization Commission be merged into another department? If so, which department will take over the disclosing of the government information? And how will the work be arranged? The other question is about the program of making transparent public funds. This year’s“two sessions”demanded revealing of the spending of the proceeds from the car plate auctions. Except for the government spokesman’s report on the total sum of the proceeds, there has been word on the details of the spending. Why is the delay so long? Are there technical problems or obstacles in specific departments? The city has always promised to disclose it, but is there a timeframe for it? Another question is for Mr Liu Ping. Shanghai City Appearance and Environmental Hygiene Bureau recently issued a directive on censoring outdoor advertisements. It is good as it kind of aims at removing the illegal adverts, but there is sure to be disputes in the process of administrative approval before follow-up policies are announced. What do you think of the issue?

Chen Qiewei: Shanghai will follow the instruction by the central government and take into consideration the local situation to actively and carefully push forward the reform of government departments.
The outdoor adverts have been widely covered in media reports. We have also checked with relevant departments. Generally speaking, the outdoor adverts in the city are too crowded and far more than enough, and there is a serious problem of adverts fixed to roadside public facilities. To enhance management of outdoor adverts and ensure first-class city appearance and urban landscape for the opening of the World Expo, authorities are working on measures these days to specify areas where outdoor ads are allowed and where they are banned.
So to avoid causing unnecessary economic losses to advertising business and to get in line with the new measures to be adopted, the city appearance and environment hygiene bureau issued an emergent notice on April 22 suspending approval of outdoor adverts, but the notice is provisional.
The city appearance and environment hygiene bureau is coordinating with other city authorities to work out new measures and will inform advertising companies in the earliest possible time.
As an open metropolis, Shanghai has taken the outdoor adverts as part of its economic boom. It is hoped that the advertising companies will join the whole city to make the urban environment and adverts more orderly, better-regulated and better coordinated.

4. Youth Daily: I’m from the Youth Daily. The spokesman mentioned the online interview of the government portal Website just now. I’d like to know whether the program will be launched officially starting from today and how often such interviews will be done in the future? Who will be the possible interviewees? An online collection of topics of the interviews has started, and will the topics suggested by the public be adopted?

Chen Qiwei: Please contact the government portal Website for details. As I know, more than 600 questions had been collected by yesterday afternoon for the online interview with Mayor Han Zheng. I guess it may have been because of so many questions from the public and Netizens that the mayor prolonged the interview to one hour, 30 more minutes than scheduled. The interview will be published online soon after.

5. Southern Weekend: I’m from the Shanghai office of the Southern Weekend. I’ve two questions. One is about the responsibility back-tracing system. Could Mr Liu Ping give us details on it, such as how to back-trace and what the worst case will be like? The second question: I was covering the news about the regulations on salary and subsidy of civil servants in Shanghai, and authorities I contacted told me that the regulations were out of the category of information disclosing. I’d like to know what rule the said authorities were following in refusing to disclose the information. And should the city disclose the regulations (on salary and subsidy)?
Liu Ping: In principle, the salary and subsidy of the civil servants shouldn’t be a secret, but an individual civil servant’s salary and subsidy cannot be released as government information. The standards of the salaries are hinged on the ranks of the civil servants, and I don’t think they should be disclosed as they belong neither to state secret nor personal privacy. I’ve no idea what rule authorities are following in refusing to disclose the information, but according to the Regulations on Disclosing Government Information, the basic information on administrative organs should be disclosed.

Southern Weekend: What if the authorities refuse to disclose it? How to affix the responsibilities?
Liu Ping: The system of affix administrative responsibilities is an internal system within the administrative departments. Shanghai has published the Measures on Affixing Responsibilities in Administrative Defaults, which specify the failure to disclose government information that should be disclosed as a violation of law. In case a department doesn’t disclose the information that should be disclosed, we’ll go through administrative reconsideration or lawsuit to decide whether it fails to perform its duty. We’ll refer to the Measures as well as detailed rules within an administration to affix the administrative responsibilities and accordingly impose administrative punishments to the employee held responsible and his or her superordinates. It is rare that the system has been implemented, and we hope the Measures will push forward the system. Thank you!

6.“Central News Agency:”I’m from the Taipei-based“Central News Agency.”I’ve several questions for the government spokesman. First, the city government press conference is very good as it’s a good communication platform. You said just now that questions can be addressed to the spokespersons of the government departments. Could you give us their names and contact numbers? Second, how shall we contact you if we have problem with the department spokespersons? Thank you!
Chen Qiwei: About your first question. My colleagues will tell you how to contact the spokespersons of the departments. And the work team of the city government spokesman often fields questions through incoming calls of reporters, and you can also contact the team.

7. The Associated Press: I’m from the Shanghai office of The Associated Press. Is the applicant required to give his or her name?
Liu Ping: Thank you for the question. The current rules don’t set strict limits on an applicant as the principle of disclosing government information is to ensure the citizens’right to know. So all citizens have the right. The applicant is required to fill up an application form, including the name. If you apply for information about yourself (which is probably accessible to the government), you must give your ID number. After you specify what kind of government information you are requesting, we’ll go through the set procedures. For example, we may check whether the information is available and which department has the information before giving a clear answer. We don’t have to keep a record on the request, and it is not necessary. Thank you!

Chen Qiwei: That’s all for today’s press conference. Thank you for coming.