China is said to increase “transparency” according to the WSJ — with the big “if” that any disclosures “should not harm state security, public safety, normal economic operations and social stability.” So the jury is out on whether these new regulations will be meaningful:

China’s government said Tuesday it has approved rules boosting official transparency, but added that state secrets have to be safeguarded and social stability preserved.

The decree signed by Premier Wen Jiabao ordered government bodies to be more open in giving out information, according to the State Council. The official Xinhua News Agency called the rules a “milestone” and said they “are likely to become the country’s most specific and progressive rules encouraging the publicity of government information when they take effect on May 1, 2008.”…

The regulations, carried on the government’s Web site, say government departments are required to give out information of interest to the public and to explain administrative procedures. That included “government purchases, budgets and expenses, results of investigations into environmental protection, public health and food and drug safety.”

But the regulations also contained a clause saying the release of the information “should not harm state security, public safety, normal economic operations and social stability.”

We recently wrote about the lack of transparency that is alleged in China. Readers who would like a primer of some of our thoughts on China’s amazing growth, and perhaps amazing problems, might want to click on the three links at the bottom of that piece.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 7:18 am and is filed under business, China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.