China's social security white paper (full text)
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-07 11:23

The "Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China," "Regulations on Placement for Demobilized Conscripts," and similar laws and regulations provide for the placement and resettlement of demobilized servicemen. The government provides employment for demobilized soldiers in urban areas, and grants a lump-sum subsidy as well as preferential policy support for those who seek their own employment. Demobilized conscripts from rural areas have their difficulties in production, livelihood and medicare settled according to their different situations. Government and non-government organizations, enterprises and public institutions provide preferential recruitment for ex-servicemen from both urban and rural areas. Secondary schools and schools of higher learning provide preferential admission to ex-servicemen. Appropriate care is given to wounded and disabled ex-servicemen in terms of employment and livelihood. Arrangements for placement and resettlement are made for demobilized, transferred and retired military officers (including non-commissioned officers). Now, relevant services have been established by governments at all levels.

Proceeding from protecting the immediate interests of the people eligible for special care and preferential treatment, as well as ex-servicemen, the Chinese Government is determined to mobilize all sectors of the society to continuously improve the special care and placement system, increase the level of protection for people of this category, promote legal and institutional guarantees for the placement and resettlement of ex-servicemen, and protect the legal rights and interests of the people eligible for special care and preferential treatment.

VIII. Social Relief

Proceeding from the situation of national development, the Chinese Government has made the greatest efforts to provide the minimum standard of living for the urban and rural poor, to provide relief to natural disaster victims and to urban vagrants and beggars, while promoting and encouraging all kinds of social mutual help activities.

Guarantee of the Minimum Standard of Living for Urban Residents

In 1999, the Chinese Government promulgated the "Regulations on Guaranteeing Urban Residents' Minimum Standard of Living," which stipulates that urban residents with non-agricultural permanent residence permits whose family's per capita income is lower than the local urban residents' minimum standard of living can receive basic subsistence assistance from the local government; those with neither source of income nor working capability, nor legal guardian, supporter or fosterer can receive in full the minimum living allowance according to the minimum living standard of local urban residents. The minimum living standard is decided primarily on the basis of urban residents' average income and consumption level per capita, the price level of the previous year, the consumption price index, the local cost necessary for maintaining the basic livelihood, other connected social security standards, the materials for the basic needs of food, clothing and housing, and the expenditure on under-age children's compulsory education. Meanwhile, consideration must also be given to the level of local socio-economic development, the number of people eligible for receiving the minimum living allowance and the local government's fiscal capacity. Funds for this purpose are included in the fiscal budgets of the local governments. For local governments that have very tight budgets, the Central Government will provide financial support. By the end of 2003, there were 22.47 million urbanites nationwide drawing the minimum living allowance, which was an average of 58 yuan per person per month. A total of 15.6 billion yuan for the minimum living allowance was allocated from government budgets at central and local levels in 2003, which included the 9.2 billion yuan of the Central Government's subsidies to the disadvantaged central and western regions.

Natural Disaster Relief

The state has set up an emergency system and a social relief system to deal with abrupt natural disasters. Taking people's lives as the most important thing, the government has made timely efforts to save and evacuate disaster-stricken people, and to lead them to engage in self-relief production and mutual help. In this connection, it has also mobilized all social sectors to render help, so as to minimize as much as possible the casualties and property losses brought about by natural disasters, and to ensure that disaster victims can have adequate food, clothing and lodging, and access to medical treatment. Governments at all levels have enlisted expenditure in their budgets for the storage of disaster-relief materials and for evacuating victims. In 2003, the expenditure for such purposes from governments at various levels reached 5.31 billion yuan, of which 4.05 billion yuan came from the Central Government.