State Council Information Office

The Information Office of the State Council (Chinese:国务院新闻办公室) can best be understood as the State Council's office equivalent to the Publicity Department which reports to the Party Central Committee. While not normally involved in media regulation, the Information Office of the State Council has influence on Ministry of the Information Industry (MII), the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) in addition to its propaganda role.

Brief Introduction

The State Council Information Office is an institution directly under the State Council, the chief information office of the Chinese government.

The current minister is Wang Chen.

Official website: www.scio.gov.cn.

Address: 225 Chaoyangmennei Dajie, East District, Beijing 100010, China

Major Functions

1. To promote domestic media in presenting China to the outside world, and to guide and coordinate China’s external media.

2. To enact development programs for the undertakings of press release to the outside world.

3. To organize introducing the policies of the Chinese government and China’s economic and social development to the outside world.

4. To encourage Chinese media to report international news and information on political, economic and scientific and technological issues.

5. To hold press conferences to introduce China and its guidelines and policies to Chinese and foreign correspondents.

6. To compile and publish White Papers of the Chinese Government, presenting the principles, stances and basic policies of the Chinese government on major issues.

7. To guide the work of the information offices of provincial, autonomous regional and municipal governments and to provide services to correspondents from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan for their visits and interviews in China.

8. To conduct exchanges and cooperation with foreign media agencies, and to provide services to foreign correspondents for their reports and interviews in China.

9. To receive important delegations and personnel who request to visit the Information Office.

10. To enact the development programs of Internet media, and guide and coordinate Internet media work.

11. To introduce the development of China’s human rights to the outside world, and to organize exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries in the field of human rights.

12. To introduce the development of Tibet Autonomous Region, and to organize external reports on Tibet and events of exchanges.

13. To study the major world media and information about Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

14. To organize large-scale, comprehensive, cross-departmental and cross-regional events of cultural exchanges, and to organize the publication of books, audio and video products to introduce China to the outside world.

Organizational Setup

The State Council Information Office has nine bureaus: Secretary Bureau, Bureau One, Bureau Two, Bureau Three, Bureau Four, Bureau Five, Bureau Six, Bureau Seven, and Bureau of Personnel.