More than one million citizens in Beijing, China's capital, may encounter a "no identification" situation as their first-generation ID cards are set to expire by New Year's Day and a second-generation card has yet to be applied for.

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, which is in charge of distributing the second-generation ID cards in the city, has decided to introduce a series of measures to help achieve smooth and efficient card exchange transactions for these people.

These measures include offering makeshift second-generation cards and conducting ID card distribution services on weekends and workday evenings, the bureau said.

According to China's law on ID cards, citizens have to produce the cards in certain circumstances, including marriage registration, traveling by air, checking in at hotels and opening a bank account.

The new second-generation, computer chip-managed ID cards, first launched in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou in March 2004, will be officially distributed nationwide in 2005 to replace the existing ID card that is made from paper and wrapped in a transparent plastic coating.

About 1.5 million second-generation ID cards have been made, 1.2 million of which have been distributed as of Dec. 20 this year in Beijing. First-generation ID cards will be put out of production and distribution beginning on Jan. 1, 2005, the bureau said.

Digital encryption technology is used in the new cards in an effort to facilitate authentication and make counterfeiting even more difficult.

The shift is expected to finish by the end of 2008, and both cards will co-exist before the replacement is complete.

So far, more than 1.3 billion ID cards have been issued by China's public security bureaus across the country. About 900 million residents currently hold the cards.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2004)