Transparency for charitable organizations urged

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China will encourage more transparency in its charitable organizations over the next five years by increasing the amount of data it publishes on the organizations and inviting the public to supervise them, according to a government blueprint released Friday.

In its five-year guideline for the development of China's charitable organizations, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said that transparency will be a "basic principle" in developing charity work while promising to respect the will of donors.

China registered 440,000 social charity organizations by the end of 2010, up from 310,000 organizations registered in 2005..

Over the past five years, social donations have hit a record high, totalling more than 300 billion yuan, Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo said on Friday.

Despite the development of China's charitable organizations, an official with the ministry said on condition of anonymity that current regulations and government policies are not "in tune" with the development of these organizations.

To lend credibility to charitable organizations, information regarding the management and use of donations will be published and subject to supervision from both the government and the public, according to the guideline.

Donors will be able to decide for themselves the size of their donations and how they want to have their donations used, the guideline said.

In addition, donors from overseas will be allowed to have import tariffs or value-added taxes cut or exempted in according with laws and relevant administrative regulations, the guideline said.