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RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGH #0154/01 0970100
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070100Z APR 09
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7801
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2666
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1880
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0336
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 2047
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 1871
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 1667
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 8440

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 000154 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, INR, DRL 
EMBASSY BEIJING FOR RULE OF LAW COORDINATOR AMY LEE 
DOC FOR ITA/MAC - DAS KASOFF, MELCHER, SZYMANSKI, COUCH, LEHRMAN 
TREASURY FOR OASIA - DOHNER/HAARSAGER/CUSHMAN 
NSC FOR LOI, KUCHTA-HELBLING 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KJUS CH
SUBJECT: EAST CHINA VIEWS ON THE OPEN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ACT 
 
REF: SHANGHAI 151 
 
(U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified and for official 
use only.  Not for distribution outside of USG channels or via 
the internet. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) As the implementation of the Central Government's Open 
Government Information (OGI) Regulation approaches its first 
anniversary on May 1, officials in East China are handling a 
deluge of public requests for information, as well as subsequent 
administrative litigation lawsuits against governmental agencies 
which failed to offer the requested information.  At the same 
time, some ambitious lawyers are resorting to the OGI as a new 
channel and legal tool to call for more transparency in local 
government decision making procedures, including local budgets. 
Fearing a continued onslaught of OGI requests, local officials 
in East China are setting up procedural barriers and using 
"national security" as excuses to refuse to provide the 
requested information.  To date, courts in East China have 
declined most OGI-related lawsuits.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
One Year Anniversary in Shanghai: 
Information Requests and Lawsuits Grow 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On March 31, the Shanghai Municipal Government 
published its first annual report on OGI Regulation 
Implementation in Shanghai.  According to the report, the 
municipal government received nearly 15,000 information requests 
in 2008, investigating 9,388 of the requests, which was a 45 
percent increase over 2007.  At the same time, the number of 
administrative litigation lawsuits against government agencies 
skyrocketed to 258 cases, which was a nearly nine-fold increase 
over the 30 cases in 2007.  The increasing number of requests 
for information and administrative legal cases were primarily 
due to the new OGI Regulation, our interlocutors said. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The annual report revealed some additional basic facts 
on the first year of the OGI's implementation in Shanghai.  Of 
the 9,388 requests, 9,027 pieces received a formal response from 
the municipal government.  Among them, 5,320 cases were approved 
to be disclosed, comprising 58.9 percent of the total.  An 
additional 287 requests were approved in part, but 502 requests 
were wholly rejected by the government (304 of the rejections 
reportedly on the basis of being related to "state secrets"). 
 
¶4. (SBU) In response to ConGen Rule of Law Coordinator's 
questions on the categories of information disclosure 
applications, Zhao Weizhong, Vice Director of the Shanghai 
Legislative Affairs Office's Institute of Administrative Law, 
pointed out that housing demolishment compensation and urban 
planning were two major categories attracting public attention 
in Shanghai.  Zhao stated that according to the annual report, 
the Shanghai Municipal Housing Bureau and Shanghai Municipal 
Urban Planning and Land Resources Bureau received most 
information disclosure requests. 
 
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Lawyers Suing Provincial Governments on OGI 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Lawyers in East China have been seeking to utilize the 
OGI to bring public information suits against both the Central 
Government (reftel) and local governments.  Yuan Yulai, a 
Zhejiang-based lawyer, sued the Anhui Provincial Government for 
failure to disclose public information related to housing 
demolishment cases in October 2008.  Although Yuan lost the 
case, it was first time that a provincial government was sued as 
a defendant under the OGI Regulation.  A Zhejiang University law 
professor who is familiar with Yuan's work told Rule of Law 
Coordinator during a visit to Hangzhou on March 31 that by suing 
the Anhui Provincial Government, Yuan also was inspired to sue 
the Jiangsu Provincial Government for not disclosing information 
 
SHANGHAI 00000154  002 OF 002 
 
 
in a similar case.  (Comment: The fact that Yuan, a native of 
Zhejiang Province, was willing to sue the Jiangsu and Anhui 
provincial governments but did not pursue any OGI 
provincial-level cases in Zhejiang is an illustration of what we 
heard from several legal experts, who said it remains easier to 
file lawsuits against localities outside a lawyer's normal 
jurisdiction.  Otherwise, lawyers fear their hometown Bureau of 
Justice would retaliate against them for "biting the hand that 
feeds them."  End Comment.) 
 
---------------------------------- 
Local Officials: Stepping Backward 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Zhao Weizhong of the Shanghai Legislative Affairs 
Office acknowledged the OGI Regulation's shortcomings in 
implementation, stating that local officials' reluctance to 
disclose information remains a big problem.  According to Zhao, 
local leaders in East China fear that applicants would use the 
information to challenge administrative decisions or internal 
policies, which would cause widespread dissatisfaction among the 
citizenry on sensitive cases such as those involving house 
demolitions.  Zhao explained that government officials at all 
levels are concerned about losing power by relinquishing 
information. 
 
¶7. (SBU) OIG applications rejected in Shanghai for "national 
security" reasons underline the problem, our Shanghai-based 
interlocutors said.  In Jiangsu Province, a High Court judge 
also complained to ROLC during a visit to Nanjing on March 30 
that local government agencies are "uncooperative" when it comes 
to providing public information.  The judge said that sometimes 
even local courts cannot easily obtain government information 
but are politely refused by excuses such as "the information 
does not exist" or "the relevant official is out of the office." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Courtroom Dilemma: Less Space for Judicial Discretion 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) According to Zhejiang University Law School Professor 
Zhang Jiansheng, the China Supreme People's Court originally 
planned to issue a judicial interpretation to broaden the scope 
of OGI Regulation lawsuits that could be accepted.  At an 
internal meeting during this past winter in Shanghai, judges 
from the Administrative Court of the China Supreme People's 
Court reportedly suggested that all government information 
should be disclosed except for "national secrets, commercial 
secrets and private information," Zhang said, and any 
information not forbidden to be disclosed by law should be 
automatically disclosed.   This viewpoint was attacked by local 
government officials, however, who think the OGI Regulation is 
unpractical and virtually impossible to implement, Zhang added. 
Ultimately, a State Council document allowing local government 
agencies to refuse applicants for social stability reasons 
diluted the OGI Regulation's power. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Following the internal debates on the OGI Regulation, 
our interlocutors told ROLC that courts in East China found less 
space for judicial discretion and were forced to significantly 
slow down the pace of OGI-related cases.  According to officials 
at the Shanghai High Court, only one plaintiff has won an OGI 
case during the past year, while all other cases were won by the 
municipal government.  Jiangsu High Court Judge Chen Ying said 
Jiangsu courts seldom accept OGI Regulation cases, and he does 
not think evidence presented as a result of the OGI Regulation 
will impact any trials in his court.  Zhejiang University Law 
School Professor Zhang Jiansheng claimed that no applicants in 
Zhejiang have received a successful judgment from local courts 
in OGI-related cases.  Zhang is concerned that as the first 
anniversary of the OGI Regulation approaches, incomplete 
implementation of the regulation may leave East China residents 
feeling that the OGI is merely an "empty promise." 
CAMP