Spokesperson system to get more open, minister says

BEIJING - China will accelerate efforts to improve the spokesperson system and be more open to the world next year when the country's ruling Party holds its 18th national congress, a senior official said on Friday.

"Next year, China will attract a lot more attention from the international community. We will be more open to answer concerns about China's development," said Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office.

Addressing a New Year reception of more than 400 representatives from major international news agencies and overseas diplomats stationed in Beijing, as well as spokespersons from State agencies, Wang said the office will continue to provide information to all journalists about China in a timely, accurate and transparent manner.

After establishing a spokesperson system in governments and the CPC Central Committee in the past few years, Wang said, the nation will focus next year on improving spokespeople's capacity to handle complicated situations.

This year, the spokesperson system was under heated discussion after Wang Yongping, the spokesman for the Ministry of Railways, was removed from this position for neglecting some of the public's concerns at a news briefing about a bullet train crash in July that killed 40 people. Wang's comments triggered public anger about the ministry's handling of the rescue efforts.

Minister Wang said that the spokesperson system works well on the whole. "But there are some spokesmen who were not well prepared and made mistakes. It is normal. We need to give them more training to prepare for emergencies and complicated scenarios," he said.

Problems also existed when some central agencies changed spokespeople too often and lacked a good mechanism to make the system work well, he said.