指纹数据将提高身份证的安全性

Those Chinese citizens applying for ID cards for the first time as well as those applying for replacement cards will be required to have their fingerprints taken from January 2013.

Luo Yaping, a fingerprint expert with the Chinese People's Public Security University, said residents' ID cards that contain fingerprint data would effectively curb the production of counterfeit ID cards.

"It would help us work more easily. There are many fake card producers across the country, so it brings a lot of harm and inconvenience to people's daily work and life. The inclusion of fingerprint information on ID cards would help combat fake ID card production and all other types of fraud."

Luo's colleague Guo Wei, the vice dean of the Department of Criminal Science and Technology in the university points out that the latest version of the national ID card will prove beneficial in solving criminal cases more efficiently thanks to the ease of detection of a victim's identity.

The associate professor explained that discovering the identity of a victim is a lengthy process at present for law enforcement officers. However, this will not be the case following the introduction of the latest version of ID cards.

"We would collect the fingerprint of a victim who has been killed. If fingerprint data is recorded on their ID card, we would be able to track down the victim's identity in an efficient way."

56 countries and regions across the world utilize fingerprint data collection when issuing ID cards. Take India as an example: last September, the country launched a project to collect its citizen's information, including a person's recent photo, fingerprint and even a scan of their iris.

In addition to ID cards, the public security authorities in China have also demanded that scans of the bearer's fingerprints be contained in all new passports issued after the middle of May.

Tang Lei, an official with the Beijing Exit-Entry Administration General Corps, calls the digital passport a big step forward in the effort to combat counterfeit passport production.

"This way, the security of passports has been improved. It will effectively prevent the generation of fake passports. As long as the security of the passport gets strengthened, the passports issued in our country will gain a higher level of credibility, which will ultimately facilitate Chinese citizens in obtaining their visas before an entry and exit.

Tang Lei added also that private digital passports have been issued since May 15th across China.

"One day, travelers are expected to pass the border inspections more easily thanks to their digital passport, which creates the technical conditions for a self-service clearance system to be launched in China in the near future."

The new passport complies with international standards – incorporating a digital chip that also stores the holder's name, birth date and photo. Over 90 countries have already adopted such passports.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, more than 38 million Chinese citizens have private passports and the number is expected to increase 20 percent annually.

For CRI, I'm Xu Fei.