China no longer regards the death toll in natural disasters and relevant materials as state secrets, a government spokesman said Monday.

"Declassification of these figures and materials will facilitate our disaster relief work and also ensure the people's right to know," said Shen Yongshe, spokesman of the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets.

He said at a press conference that the administration and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have jointly issued a document on declassifying such figures and materials both at national and provincial levels from August 2005.

"Previous stipulations that classify related information as confidential are abolished accordingly," he said.

Shen said that the old practice was adopted in line with the historical conditions the country faced in the past. As China continues to deepen reform and improve its disaster relief work, keeping the death toll as state secret conforms to neither the need to develop the country's disaster relief work nor the practice widely adopted by the international community.

"Declassification of such information is conducive to boosting our disaster prevention and relief work," he said.

The decision marks a major step taken by the government toward "administering according to law" and "building a transparent government," he added.

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