Openness of Government Affairs in China: Developments in 2020 and Prospects in 2021

In 2020, the Center for Studies of the National Rule of Law Index of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Innovation Project Team on the Rule of Law Index of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences continued to carry out the third-party assessment on the open government work of 49 departments under the State Council, 31 provincial-level governments, 49 governments of larger cities, and 120 county (city, or district)-level governments, focusing on such aspects of the work as openness of decision-making, openness of administration and service, openness of implementation of law and its results, policy interpretation and response to public concerns, and disclosure of government information upon application. The assessment shows that China accelerated the exploration of the standardization of the openness of government affairs, steadily advanced the openness of decision-making, and made marked progress in government services, administrative law enforcement and disclosure of management results in 2020. In the future, China still needs to further enhance the consciousness of openness, accurately identify the needs of the public, integrate openness into the whole process of government activities, and improve the level of information guarantee.