Chapter 55 Chapter 53: Information disclosure leads to the birth of a "citizen-oriented" society

Maybe one day, when we find out that the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information has become a historic turning point... May 12, 2008 at 14:28!An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, and was felt in more than 10 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions including Beijing, Henan, Shanghai, Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan.This natural disaster, which affected more than half of China and affected hundreds of millions of people, killed tens of thousands of compatriots in an instant. About 20 minutes after the earthquake, the authoritative announcement about the earthquake appeared on the official website.Subsequently, the relevant government departments quickly released the earthquake announcement to the public through various channels such as TV, radio, and mobile phone text messages, and the number of casualties was also updated in real time... The transparent and timely disclosure of authoritative information not only stopped rumors that might spread, It also eliminated public panic to a certain extent.

"In this earthquake, the information available to the public is overwhelming. In my country, people have never seen so many scenes and details of a disaster so vividly before." Researcher Yin Yungong, director of the Institute of Journalism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was interviewed by reporters This evaluation, "The release of the earthquake information can be regarded as the fastest and most comprehensive one in the history of our country. The degree of disclosure of government information has reached the extreme. This is a milestone in the process of information disclosure in our country."

In fact, all this should be expected. On May 1, 2008, a high-profile administrative regulation in our country - "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Disclosure of Government Information" was officially implemented.This administrative regulation promulgated in April 2007 clearly stipulates citizens' right to know and the government's obligation to disclose information.This will lead our government into a new era of information disclosure. When the era of information disclosure comes, both the government and the public, both at the practical level and at the legislative level, need to make further preparations.

The topic of government information disclosure always touches the public's sensitive nerves inadvertently. The public expects that the official implementation of the regulations will illuminate more hidden corners of our society. On May 5, 2008, five citizens, including Huang Youjian and Deng Bosong, from Rucheng County, Hunan Province, detonated a special lawsuit—the Rucheng County People’s Government was rejected by the county government for disclosing the investigation materials of relevant government departments. The case was filed with the Chenzhou Intermediate People's Court.As far as we know, this is the first administrative lawsuit in our country where a citizen sued for "non-disclosure of government information" since the regulations came into force.

"This is the first national-level government information disclosure legislation in my country, which makes information disclosure a legal obligation of the government. This is a historic breakthrough in the transformation of the government's governance philosophy." A government official in Beijing read the full text of the regulations in one go. , couldn't help but sighed to the reporter, "This will completely subvert our previous working ideas and methods, and it is simply a revolution in the concept of governance." It is understood that the disclosure of government information is recognized all over the world, disclosure is the principle, and non-disclosure is the exception.According to relevant data, the United States has opened 95% of its archives before 1975 to the outside world, Russia has an opening rate of 80% to 90%, and Japan has taken measures to open its archives before 1979 in 13 batches.

Since the late 1990s, government information disclosure has formed a consensus among the Chinese government, academic circles and ordinary people.From being established as a legislative research project in 1998, to being announced in April 2007, and then officially implemented in May 2008, the regulations have gone through a long process of "breaking the ice in ten years", and the preparation period for the implementation of the law is as long as one year. However, this long legislative process has always been accompanied by the reform and growth of our government, and it has also witnessed the progress of my country's socialist democratic politics from another aspect——

On January 1, 2006, the portal website of the central government was officially launched. So far, 80% of the governments and government departments above the county level in the country have established portal websites.The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the National Audit Office and other national ministries and commissions also set up information disclosure columns on their official websites.After clicking to enter, you can see the directory of information disclosure of these departments, the path and guideline for citizens to apply for information disclosure, etc.

It is understood that the government spokesperson system has also been basically established in various central ministries and commissions and 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.In addition, some local governments have also installed special facilities such as computer query terminals, electronic display screens, and document reading rooms in public service places such as libraries, archives, and administrative examination and approval halls, to further facilitate public inquiries about government information. In terms of protecting citizens' rights and interests, building a harmonious society and clean government, the significance of information disclosure is obvious.

"The government holds a large amount of information in a country. Whether the information is disclosed or not and the degree of disclosure play a direct role in promoting the progress of society." Associate Professor Yang Zhonghong from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology believes, "Over the years, the public in our country has If there is a problem, there is often no channel to appeal, resulting in some very common problems evolving into misunderstandings due to poor information, which invisibly aggravates hidden contradictions in society. The implementation of the regulations will help protect the rights and interests of the public and accelerate the process of democratic political construction .”

Due to the fact that information non-disclosure has brought many painful lessons to our government, in addition to the frequent occurrence of major corruption cases caused by secret operations in some project decisions, at the beginning of the "SARS" disaster and the pollution of the Songhua River and other public emergencies, some departments Officials believed that the more information the public knew, the more panic would be aroused in the society, so they did everything possible to cover up the facts, but the result was just the opposite. After learning these lessons, whenever a bird flu epidemic, drug poisoning, food safety, earthquake and other crises occur, the relevant government will continue to announce the truth and the situation through various channels such as government bulletins, government websites, press conferences, and traditional media. progress, and provide information such as safety precautions to the public.

"The government needs to learn how to deal with crises effectively in a catastrophe, and honest information disclosure is the foundation. This will not only make the public more rational and calm, but also allow the government to gain the greatest understanding and support from the public, laying the foundation for a smooth resolution of the crisis." foundation.” Mr. Li, who works in an advertising company in Beijing, told reporters, “The implementation of the regulations effectively guarantees citizens’ right to know, better realizes citizens’ right to participate, to express, and to supervise, and to a large extent prevents the government from Mistakes in decision-making have drawn the feelings of the government and the people closer, which is an effective way to promote social harmony." Relevant experts believe that the corruption phenomena such as official dereliction of duty, abuse of power, and incomprehension of government orders that have bred in the past are basically the product of black-box operations.For this reason, government information disclosure can better prevent corruption. "The more the government monopolizes information, the more secrets there are, and the more room for rent-seeking power." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government Administration of Peking University, believes, "In real life, information such as college entrance examination scores and weather forecasts are often Relevant departments sell at a high price through channels such as the Voice Channel. Most of these corrupt phenomena such as power-for-money trading, fraud and dishonesty are caused by black-box operations. According to the regulations, these should be released to the public for free in principle.” It can be expected that after the implementation of the regulations, the Chinese government will continue to transform into an open, service-oriented and democratic government.At the same time, the regulations will also arouse the democratic awareness and political enthusiasm of citizens to participate in and supervise the government, and activate and accelerate the democratic process of the whole society. Relevant experts optimistically predict that this irreversible two-way evolution will eventually restructure the relationship between the government and the public, and eventually give birth to a modern civil society with limited government and citizen-centeredness. During the reporter's interview, many interviewees worried that the regulations would become a mere formality in operation, and even worried that due to the vagueness of some clauses, the government or officials might take advantage of loopholes and conceal violations.This concern is not without reason. Contrasted with the enthusiasm of the public, there are still some government departments that have not performed as expected as the regulations have been implemented.From the perspective of information disclosure, there are still problems of irregular and incomplete disclosure, and the control of some information basically depends on the unilateral will of the government.Even more extreme, some government departments and government officials still have the "work habit" of monopolizing and blocking information out of their own interests. "When government information is linked to officials' achievements, assessment indicators, or even 'black hats', some officials will inevitably have the instinct to block information, conceal the truth, or even fabricate lies." Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, said in an interview with reporters, "Some The government is unwilling to disclose various statistical survey data related to people's livelihood, such as administrative expenses and project approval status, mainly because this public information is closely related to departmental interests and officials' performance." It is understood that after the implementation of the regulations, there are still some local government services that are not in place.For example, the way for the public to submit applications is not smooth, no one answers the consultation calls, and some make it clear that they do not accept visitors, and even directly reject applicants.What's more, some departments were caught off guard after the implementation of the regulations, and some even the staff of the department didn't know who should disclose the information. Although governments at all levels have generally established websites, the reporter's investigation found that some did not undertake the function of releasing government information, but alienated into websites that reprinted media reports, and some even turned into profit-making commercial websites, and the role positioning changed. Seriously misplaced.Many grassroots government websites have not been updated for a long time, and some cannot be opened at all, becoming "dead websites". Similarly, the spokesperson system, which the public has always placed high hopes on, has become a decoration in some places and departments, and has even become a tool for "unified propaganda" to deal with negative media reports on the local government.Many units also clearly stipulate that "except for the press spokesperson, it is strictly forbidden for staff to accept interviews with reporters without permission."Some press spokespersons were either unable to be contacted, or were able to be contacted. Whenever they were asked about some "sensitive issues", they said he or she simply had "no comment".A well-intentioned institutional innovation has instead become a "shield" in the hands of officials. Many problems encountered in government information disclosure are not only related to government philosophy and officials' mentality, but also related to the design of our laws and regulations.For example, according to the regulations, before the administrative organs disclose government information, they should review the government information to be disclosed in accordance with the secrecy law and other relevant laws, regulations, and regulations, and must not disclose government information involving state secrets.This makes it possible for some government departments and officials to use the "confidentiality review mechanism" as an excuse to compress citizens' right to know. A typical example is that the long-term opacity of real estate information has provided a huge space for developers to manipulate housing prices and corrupt officials to seek rent from land. As a result, housing prices in various places have continued to rise, which has evolved into a serious social problem that affects people's livelihood.For this reason, in recent years, there have been constant requests from the public to disclose the cost of real estate, but some local government departments have refused to disclose it on the grounds that it is a "developer's commercial secret". A more controversial topic is that, although society generally believes that officials with public power should disclose their property status and accept social supervision.However, the theory of "personal privacy" has a great market in the official class. Until now, the official property declaration system is just a "mirage." "Some of the current regulations are too broad. How to define whether information can be published may become the main problem in the implementation of the regulations. This will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of implementation." Du Liyuan, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm, told reporters. Article 13 and Article 13 stipulate respectively the voluntary disclosure of information and the disclosure upon application, but it is difficult to grasp the boundary between the two. The voluntary disclosure of information may not be timely enough due to the change of the concept of the government and its staff and other relevant guarantee mechanisms. The lack of it becomes a mere formality.” In addition, it can be seen from the regulations that the decision-making power and execution power of information disclosure are basically controlled by the government.But without supervision by a third party other than the government, this closed information disclosure model is likely to arouse public doubts about the degree of information disclosure. "It is foreseeable that these issues are likely to lead to a large number of administrative disputes, which may eventually lead to the administrative and judicial organs being overwhelmed by such disputes." Du Liyuan said. "At this stage, there is a phenomenon that government information disclosure is narrow and the scope of confidential information is wide." Qi Shanhong believes that "at present, almost all levels of administrative agencies have the right to classify secrets, and determine the scope that should be kept secret from their own standpoints, resulting in the classification of secrets being too common. Some, when enforcing the specific scope of secrecy, arbitrarily expanded the scope and determined matters that should not be determined as state secrets. Some departments did not revise the specific scope of secrecy in a timely manner, and some information that was obviously not classified as state secrets was still being kept secret. Secrecy work has increased the difficulty and increased the cost of secrecy." Relevant experts believe that in the face of such a revolutionary and subversive system engineering as the construction of the government information disclosure system, due to some practical factors, there are still many supporting policies that need to be improved, and a way to implement it should be found as soon as possible from the gap between ideal and reality A new way of regulation. "The disclosure of social information must be institutionalized in the form of laws and regulations, making it an operable, reviewable, and highly transparent procedure, so that government administration is under the effective supervision of the public." Shanghai Jiaotong University Humanities Professor Xing Zhaoliang of the college believes that "it makes the content, nature, and time of information release by government administration a mandatory act of assuming legal obligations. Therefore, the release of major social information will not be arbitrary depending on the person or time." "The current regulation is only an administrative regulation formulated by the State Council, rather than a higher-level law formulated by the National People's Congress." Li Chengyan believes, "Because of this, it is mainly applicable to administrative agencies, and it cannot cover the People's Congress, The CPPCC, the courts, the procuratorate and other national institutions cannot regulate the disclosure of village affairs, school affairs, etc. at the grassroots level.” For this reason, Li Chengyan appealed that relevant departments should continue to sum up experience and incorporate more subjects into the The scope of information disclosure has gradually elevated the regulations into laws, so as to better promote the transparency of the entire public domain and public power domain, and more comprehensively protect citizens' right to know. "The government still needs to step up its efforts to publicize the regulations, and its enforcement at the grassroots level needs to be further strengthened. Now the central government attaches great importance to the disclosure of government information. Understand.” A college student “village official” in Changping District, Beijing believes, “At present, many ordinary people don’t know much about the regulations, and they don’t know who to turn to for applications. The government should find ways to let the general public understand and actively participate in relevant actions. .” "The implementation of the regulations involves media relations is also an important issue." Professor Yu Guoming, a doctoral supervisor at Renmin University of China's School of Journalism, told reporters, "According to the regulations, the government's information disclosure actually has to deal with the public, the media and There are many complex relationships such as the information they have. The implementation of the regulations, from the perspective of the media itself, should verify and judge the information they have learned. First of all, the media is not "inquiry", and has no right to require the government to disclose government information that involves personal privacy .Secondly, the media should supervise the disclosure of government information and disclose the government’s concealment of information. On the other hand, the government should have a sense of service, learn to respect the media, and give the media a certain space instead of more restraints. The media has more responsibility and obligation to speak for the people." "The goal pursued by the regulations will be a revolution in the management model of the Chinese government, but the existence of the regulations does not mean that citizens' right to know can be realized without obstacles." Qi Shanhong believes that although the regulations provide the realization of citizens' right to know It is legally possible, but to make this possibility a reality, to ensure that citizens' right to know can be truly and effectively realized, it also depends on our correct understanding and strict implementation, serious investigation of responsibility for violations of regulations, and strict enforcement of violations. Effective remedies for citizens' right to obtain information, as well as cooperation with other relevant conditions, such as urgently revising and improving the Confidentiality Law, Archives Law and other relevant laws and regulations, and formulating relevant supporting regulations and rules. "Laws and regulations must be rigid, because they involve the game of various interests. If they are not rigid or not rigid enough, they may be manipulated by powerful people." Du Liyuan believes that in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the regulations, the following aspects need to be done : First of all, administrative agencies at all levels should further formulate corresponding administrative regulations or rules to standardize according to the regulations, establish relevant self-discipline norms and incentive mechanisms within the government, urge the government and staff to strengthen the awareness of active disclosure, and standardize the procedures for actively releasing information . Secondly, a monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the regulations should be established, and an accountability system for governments at all levels and their staff to conceal information should be established. Typical cases of violations of regulations and concealment of government information should be disclosed through the media, and the relevant personnel should be held accountable. Finally, administrative agencies should formulate a dispute handling system for information disclosure to resolve a large number of administrative lawsuits that may arise. After administrative disputes occur, they should guide citizens to rationally treat disputes that occur during the process of information disclosure in a step-by-step manner, so as to achieve government information disclosure. genuine harmony between government and citizens in the process.