A diplomatic news story released through Xinhua's Chinese service earlier this month caught the eye of many China watchers as the source, the Ministry of National Defence information office, was appearing in public for the first time.

The advent of the ministry's information office provided an indication that the once "secrecy-shrouded" Chinese military could be opening wider to the outside world in future. It also marked a new chapter in the country's news briefing system.

At present, nearly all departments of the Communist Party of China (CPC), State Council ministries and provincial-level governments have established a spokesperson system. Last year, the CPC's "mysterious" discipline watchdog, the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection, opened for the first time to foreign and domestic journalists.

The improvement should be attributed to the accelerated efforts the government has made since the 2003 SARS outbreak toward greater information flow. Because of these efforts, more changes can be expected. Starting on May 1, a regulation on government information openness will come into effect. This will require governments at various levels to release information that "affects the immediate interests of individuals and groups" or that "should be known by the masses" within 20 working days.

It requires governments to release to the public details of how individual departments plan to deal with emergencies, government spending, specific fees for public services and results of investigations into environmental protection, public health and food and drugs safety, among others.

"In case the government fails to carry out its obligations defined by this regulation, officials responsible should be punished if the violations are serious," it said.

As officials are told to release governmental information in a timely manner, foreign journalists working in China can now enjoy greater long-term journalistic conveniences in the country.

The regulations on reporting activities in China by foreign journalists during the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games and the preparatory period, became effective in 2007. It said foreign journalists would not necessarily have to be accompanied or assisted by a Chinese official when they reported in the country. They also no longer needed to apply to provincial foreign affairs offices for permission to report in all the country's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

Cai Wu, State Council Information Office minister, recently said there was no document stating that when this new regulation expires on Oct. 17 the country would return to the previous conditions.

"If practices show that it will help the international community know better about China, it is a good policy in accordance with the country's reform and opening up. Why is it necessary for us to change it?" he said. Heavy Workload, No "Occupation Risks"

With the institutional evolution, individual spokespersons are also scrambling to become more competent and recognized.

Wang Xuming, Ministry of Education spokesman, said "competent spokespersons shall be good at expressing themselves and communicating with others. They should be talented and well trained".

Wang, who himself once worked in media, proposed selecting government spokespersons from journalists who have enough knowledge on governmental operation.

He called for more people to become involved in the profession, pointing out the Ministry of Education information office only had four staff, despite the public's enormous attention to education. The workload for the office was thus really heavy

When asked if China's spokespersons faced "occupational risk", Cai said no such case had occurred where the spokesperson was blamed or punished for "making wrong or inappropriate remarks".

But he admitted spokespersons could do their jobs better. "Nowadays, most spokespersons are part-time, they concurrently do other jobs in their governmental departments. In future, they should be full-time spokespersons."

In addition, while the spokespersons are very familiar with government operations and have a good understanding about various policies, most lacked journalistic knowledge and training. Some were still not good at communicating with journalists, he said.

The State Council Information Office is currently providing training courses to spokespersons from ministries and local governments, Cai said.

"With the coming of the Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese governments will be more open to the media and the world," he said recently.

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2008)