China will institute detailed rules on charitable donations, introduce more tax incentives and improve publicity to encourage philanthropy, a senior Chinese official said in Beijing Monday.

Charitable donations have become an important source of funds and materials in disaster and poverty relief and the government had to perfect laws and regulations, cultivate charity organizations and establish incentives, said Yang Yanyin, Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs.

Wang Zhenyao, director of the Disaster Relief Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said China had an effective and transparent donation management and distribution system under the supervision of audit agencies.

But China still lacked an attractive tax incentive to encourage donations, Wang said. He urged the legislature to improve laws to encourage donations and further improve the management and distribution of donation.

Bai Chengyu, who has worked for the government on poverty relief since 1988 and is preparing a non-governmental organization (NGO) on rural development, said a lack of long-term staff was a major problem for his association, which had seven paid and three volunteer staff.

Inadequate organization of NGOs weakened their abilities to fulfill their long-term commitments, said Deng Guosheng, deputy director of the School of Public Policy and Management of Qinghua University, one of China's prestigious universities.

Minister of Civil Affairs Li Xueju said China would cultivate more NGOs, offer preferential support for enterprises entering China's social welfare system and learn from other countries in a bid to expand public welfare.

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2003)