Good News From China

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

China Vows To Grant Allowances To All Urban Poor
Xinhua in English  18 June 2002

[FBIS Transcribed Text]  Beijing, June 18 (XINHUA) --
The Ministry of Civil Affairs vowed Tuesday to grant
minimum living allowances to all urban poor around
China by June 30.

Of the country's 19.38 million urban poor who exist on
a per capita monthly income below the official
bottom-line average of 152 yuan (about 18.3 U.S.
dollars), some 15.91 million had received the subsidy
by June 10.

Those urban poor not yet covered by the system make up
only 17. 9 percent, 10.2 percent fewer than in April.

Wang Zhikun of the ministry said that China was
confident of carrying out its promise on schedule.

"Only after all those who qualify get their allowances
from the government can the country's bottom-line
security system live up to its name as the last line
of the national social security system," he said.

According to Wang, those urban needy still awaiting
assistance are mainly scattered across 19 provinces
and autonomous regions including Hunan and Qinghai.

A total of 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions have already achieved the target of granting
allowances to all local urban poor who qualify.

They are Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu,
Zhejiang, Guangdong, Chongqing, Hebei, Jilin, Guangxi,
Guizhou and Ningxia.

To encourage local governments at all levels to
redouble their efforts in granting allowances to all
those who qualify as quickly as possible, the ministry
is planning to release their statistics every
fortnight to news media.

Call-free telephones will also be set up nationwide
for the urban needy to lodge complaints or ask for
legal and technical assistance.

On Wednesday, an inspection team comprising officials
from the ministries of civil affairs and finance and
the General Office of the State Council will fly to
Yunnan, Jiangxi and Heilongjiang to check their work
in preparing fund for this purpose.

China's social security system was long plagued by a
shortage of capital.

Last month, Beijing allocated a record 4.6 billion
yuan (554 million U.S. dollars) from state revenues as
a fallback fund for local governments to use for
payments to urban poor.

"Such a large amount indicates the Chinese
government's determination to guarantee basic living
for the urban poor and to push local governments to
contribute more," he said.

In July, a large-scale random survey will be launched
among the country's nearly 20 million urban poor to
make sure none is being left out.

"Once the allowances are granted to all those urban
poor," Wang said, "development of the country's basic
security system will stabilize.

"Our emphasis will then shift to setting up
institutions and standardizing management," the
ministry official added

After a pilot program in Shanghai in 1993, the basic
security system for urban dwellers was introduced
across China in 1997.


[Description of Source: Beijing Xinhua in English --
China's official news service for English-language
audiences (New China News Agency)]