Twenty-eight spokespersons from 25 ministries and administrations under China's State Council have so far sent their festival greetings to netizens beginning on Friday via People.com.cn, a Website run by the People's Daily.

The spokespersons publicized their office telephone numbers and some outlined New Year work plans of relevant government organs for public supervision when addressing the 94 million Internet surfers in the Chinese mainland.

Those involved include ministries of education, public security, health, supervision, railways, and labor and social security.

So far 67 surfers have posted comments on People.com.cn, with some of them hailing the move as "creative and friendly," and "a bridge of mutual understanding, trust and support between the government and the public."

To release government information in time and make the government work more transparent, China's State Council Information Office (SCIO) for the first time made public a list of spokespersons of government organs and phone numbers of the relevant government offices late last year.

The list covers a total of 75 spokespersons from 62 organs of the State Council, and the SCIO promised to promote establishment of the spokesperson's system in ministries and administrations under the State Council that have not yet appointed their spokespersons, including the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of National Defense.

Twenty provincial-level governments have adopted a news briefing and spokesperson's system and appointed their spokespersons, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hubei, Yunnan, Tibet and Ningxia, according to the SCIO.

Since the SARS outbreak in 2003, China has made substantial efforts to increase the transparency of government work. In 2004, the SCIO sponsored two national training classes for spokespersons.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2005)