China clears up dormant govt websites

BEIJING - China is to survey all levels of government websites, clearing up dormant sites and making the existing sites "more pragmatic".

The census will continue till December in order to "learn the general situation of e-government" according to a circular by the State Council general office. It will cover websites at all levels of government, ministries, subordinate departments and institutions. Surveys will determine whether the websites are useful, regularly updated and whether questions raised by the public via the sites have been dealt with appropriately.

Results will be made public when the survey is completed.

China's e-government developed rapidly since the central government website (www.gov.cn) went online on Jan. 1, 2006. Transparency has since become a major yardstick assessing government work.