The decision to discontinue the daily reports on severe acute respiratory syndrome came in the wake of the World Health Organization decision to lift its travel advisory on Beijing and remove the city from its list of SARS-affected areas.

The WHO decision is an indicator of China's future as a more transparent country.

The organization said the Chinese Government had pledged better health care for its people and shared timely and transparent information on SARS.

In fact, the country's political transparency is highly significant given that the opening-up process is taking place in a greater variety of areas.

For example, Shanghai -- the pioneer of China's reform and opening-up drive -- introduced an unprecedented "spokesperson system" in its government, legislature, courts and prosecutor's office early this month.

Similar systems were established in Central China's Henan Province and East China's Shandong Province shortly afterwards.

More surprisingly, the Chinese Government demonstrated transparency in informing the press of a submarine accident in May that claimed the lives of 70 Chinese sailors.

At the time, foreign media noted that the announcement of the accident was unusual, given that the Chinese Government rarely acknowledged this type of military accident in the past.

Observers in China say that such efforts to improve the country's transparency are by no means fortuitous. China's new leadership has taken many effective steps to continue to open up the country.

The official media's coverage of last year's 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and this year's 10th National People's Congress drew even more attention from home and abroad.

So far this year, China's mainstream media have devoted an extraordinary amount of coverage to incidents such as the earthquake in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the bombings at Tsinghua University and Peking University, and the hostage case in the Beijing branch of Reuters news agency.

The timeliness and responsiveness of the media shown in those reportings were unprecedented, news critics said.

Yu Guoming, professor of journalism at the Beijing-based Renmin University of China, said: "This is not only a question of information release and communication but a signal that China will open more widely to the outside world."

Given its more than 2,000-year history as a feudal society, China has a long tradition of insisting on secrecy. Ordinary citizens have not been fully informed of how their government is run.

However, the secrecy began to dissolve in the late 1970s, when the country launched its reform and opening-up. China's integration into the international community was consolidated in 2001 when it joined the World Trade Organization after years of negotiations.

Since then, the country's opening-up has been greatly accelerated, and transparency is also being extended to foreign residents.

Since last year, foreigners in China have served as neighbourhood committee members, been invited to observe local legislative sessions and been cited as "model workers."

Ordinary citizens can file complaints and suggestions to their local government institutions by letter, the telephone, the Internet or in face-to-face meetings.

Live television broadcasts on the appointment and removal of officials, commonly seen in Western countries, have been introduced in Central China's Hunan Province, the birthplace of the late Chairman Mao Zedong.

Observers say the changes can be attributed to China's rapid economic development, its improved judicial system and the government determined to further reforms.

They say China's progress in the area of transparency is irreversible and that the country will become even more open in the future.

(China Daily June 30, 2003)