In an attempt to guarantee transparency of government affairs, a total of 54 computers will be put in place to allow for inquiries and searches to be made into legal and government information, it was announced Thursday.

As the second batch of such computers, they will be located in streets, squares, residential districts and government affairs service halls in Beijing's Xuanwu District for use by the public.

People will be able to acquire and download all laws, national administrative regulations, local regulations and government notices through the computers.

The functions, places of work and telephone numbers of district government departments will also be available.

Local residents will be kept up to date on effective ways to send advice or complaints to government.

"The move is an attempt to promote communication between local government and residents," Li Lingyan, vice-director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Beijing municipal government, said yesterday at a press conference.

According to Li, of the 18 districts and counties in Beijing, Chaoyang and Xuanwu districts have taken the lead in establishing such electronic facilities to promote transparency of government affairs.

"Local governments of other districts and counties are also doing the same," she said.

"The electronic inquiry and search system is able to provide more legal information than law documents," Li said.

As attempts to make laws and regulations easier to grasp, Beijing's local government has set up over 800 venues for the public to get their hands on free legislative documents in the last two years.

As for the computerized facilities, Du Lingxin, deputy head of the Xuanwu district government said Thursday that one of the advantages is their round-the-clock service.

"Whenever residents need legal or government information, they can reach it through these facilities," he said.

Information

"Meanwhile, people are able to download the information they need."

"Furthermore, we are able to continually upgrade the system," he added.

Du said he believed that the new system will provide more exact, varied and quick information to the public.

(China Daily November 5, 2004)