A new entry in government-issued press cards, to be added later this month, might help many Chinese reporters persuade tight-lipped officials to talk.

The entry will say: "The governments at all levels should facilitate the reporting of journalists who hold this card and provide necessary assistance."

"Without a proper reason, government officials must not refuse to be interviewed," said Zhu Weifeng, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Many considered this a positive signal that the authorities welcomed supervision from the media.

The new press card statement followed a regulation on the disclosure of government information, effective last May, which was the first government rule safeguarding citizens' right to be informed.

"Media and public supervision are among the arrangements the country is making to control the power of the state and protect civil rights," said Li Yunlong, a human rights expert at the Institute for International Strategies of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"How to prevent state power from infringing on civil rights is a very important issue in human rights protection," Li said.

This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva conducted its first review of China's human rights record, and it acknowledged the country's efforts in human rights protection.

The country took a long and winding road to acceptance of the concept of "civil rights" but was headed in the right direction, Li said. "I have seen a trend toward increasing supervision of the authorities and more restrictions on their power."

Mo Jihong, a researcher with the Law Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, saw the same trend in legislation. "The changes in the Constitution were obvious," said Mo.

China's first three Constitutions, issued respectively in 1954, in 1975 and 1978, all had a chapter on the fundamental rights and duties of citizens. But none of those versions defined "citizen," which affected the implementation of these items, he said.

The current Constitution, adopted in 1982, closed this loophole and put the chapter on citizens' rights before that of the structure of the state, he said.

"It showed the country acknowledged that the state derived its legitimacy through protecting citizens' rights, rather than by giving rights to citizens."

In 2004, an amendment to the Constitution added an article stating that the state respects and preserves human rights.

"Through the amendments, the Constitution gave more responsibility to state organs to protect civil rights," Mo said.