There should be a pragmatic accountability system in place, making it possible for the public and related authorities to watch over governments to improve their transparency, says an article in Southern Metropolis Daily. Excerpt:

The State Council published a list of important works of government information disclosure that should be achieved this year, requiring that administrative approvals, budgets and final accounts and land acquisition information should be disclosed to the public.

The to-do list also stresses the importance of a supervision and accountability system to press governments to improve their transparency.

Society requires governments to disclose the spending on cars, officials’ business trips and receptions. But the extent to which a government should provide relevant information varies from place to place.

Although it is already a rule that governments should disclose information of vital importance to the public good, there is no effective supervisory mechanism making governments take information disclosure seriously.

The central authority should revise the government information disclosure rules to define “state secrets” more accurately, because many local governments use “state secrets” as a pretense to conceal key information.

Making the practices of power more transparent can help accelerate the modernization of China’s governance ability, harness government funds more efficiently and curb officials’ corruption and abuses of power.

There is no reason for a responsible government to refuse to make itself more transparent and clean.