Press briefing on household registration reform
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 30, 2014
Guo Weimin:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning! Welcome to today's press conference.
Today, the State Council officially issued the "Opinions on Further Promotion of the Reform of Household Registration System". To help us better understand the current situation of Chinese household registration reform, we are honored to have eight officials here to give us a thorough introduction. They are: Huang Ming, vice minister of public security; Liu Limin, vice minister of education; Wang Bao'an, vice minister of finance; Yang Zhiming, vice minister of human resources and social security; Wang Pei'an, vice minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission; Li Pumin, secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission; Feng Jun, chief economic manager of housing and urban-rural development, and Zhao Yang, vice director of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group.
Now, let's give the floor to Mr. Huang Ming.
Huang Ming:
Dear friends from the press,
Good morning. Today, the "Opinions on Further Promotion of the Reform of Household Registration System" is officially published by the State Council. It is a framework document to guide the reform of household registration system and marks a turning point in reform to all-round implementation. It took more than a year to prepare this document. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council has paid close attention to the reform, the 18th CPC National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of 18th CPC Central Committee indicated the direction of the reform, and President Xi Jinping issued some important instructions and chaired a range of meetings on the issue. Premier Li Keqiang chaired a State Council executive meeting to deliberate on the "Opinions". Other central leaders also heard a number of reports, conducted field research, collected opinions from all sides including the views of migrant workers, and made requests for changes at the drafting stage.
Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the "Opinions" have been jointly drawn up by the Ministry of Public Security, the National Development and Reform Commission, Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, National Health and Family Planning Commission, National Bureau of Statistics and the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council. On the basis of in-depth research and extensive experience, these 13 departments carefully studied, collected opinions from residents across the country and carried out effective evaluation and data calculation. We have listened to the views of NPC deputies, CPPCC members, experts and scholars, as well as, especially, the migrant workers themselves. The State Council has held a range of symposia and coordination meetings to collect suggestions from different regions and departments. Thus, this document embodies the wisdom of the nation at large.
It clearly points out the guiding ideology, objectives, tasks, policies and measures and implementation path of the reform of the household registration system. It consists of five parts: adjusting the residence migration system, innovating population management measures, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of both migrant workers and permanent residents of the cities, and strengthening the aspects of organization and leadership.
According to the arrangement of the central government, the State Council will hold meetings in the near future in different regions and with various departments as part of the implementation process.
Thank you, friends from the press, for your attention to the Chinese household registration reform! Now, we are glad to answer your questions.
China Daily:
My question goes to Minister Huang. What is the ultimate goal for the household registration system reform? What will be the features during the reform process? Thanks.
Huang Ming:
You just asked about the development goal and the special characteristics of the household registration system reform. The overarching goal for this reform is to settle 100 million migrants and other permanent residents without urban household registrations in towns and cities. We will allow migrants and other permanent residents who do not have a local household registration, to gradually gain access to basic local public services. This is a very important goal.
Meanwhile, we have another goal for household registration reform: we will basically establish a new human-oriented, scientific, efficient, normative and orderly household registration system which lives up to the task of building a moderately prosperous society, effectively supports social management and public services, and protects citizens' rights and interests according to the law. It will include the following aspects: we are going to unify the urban and rural household registration systems by pushing forward household registration system reform, fully implement the residence permit system, basically establish a relocated household registration system based on a person's lawful and stable residence as well as one's lawful and stable employment, and the basic form of registering one's regular residence location. A national database of population information will be built and the information will be integrated and shared across departments and areas. These are our two major goals.
There will be three salient features of the household registration system reform. First, this hukou policy is a holistic adjustment. Compared with the current reform, past reforms were generally partial, piecemeal or adjustments in articles, or adjustments for a certain aspect. This time, after the central government made full-scale plan for new urbanization construction, they decided to implement the differentiated household settlement policies in China, which will feature a rational layout for big, medium and small cities and small towns. It will play an extremely important role in reasonably guiding and arranging population allocation. This is one feature.
Second, it will be a comprehensive coordinated reform according to the central government's general plans for comprehensively deepening reform, which means household registration system reform is not only a single reform, but also a coordinated reform of other relevant departments.
Third, it will be a holistic construction of a new type of household registration system. The household registration system reform is not just about an adjustment of household settlement policies, it is also about building a unified household registration system for both the urban and rural population, as well as fully implementing the residence permit system, improving the management system of population information among others.
There has never been housing registration reform like this before, with such great determination, such efforts, covering so many aspects, with such solid measures.
Thank you.
Economic Daily:
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee decided to "completely lift restrictions on new residence registration in administrative townships and small cities, relax restrictions on new residence registration in medium-sized cities in an orderly manner, lay down appropriate conditions for new residence registration in large cities, and strictly control the population size of megacities." How will the requirements of the central government be carried out in local cities? The Opinion also proposes establishment of a mechanism that dovetails fiscal transfer payment with the urbanized agricultural population, so can you please give more specific details of this point?
Huang Ming:
Your questions concern two aspects. The first is about expounding the residence registration policy, and the second concerns fiscal policies. I will answer the first part.
The Opinion issued by the State Council sets out the mechanism for carrying out residence registration in small, medium, large and mega cities. It takes into account the realities in the cities and administrative townships, as well as in the different regions of China, and also details the means of implementing the different policies according to the nature of the existing local population and its ability to accommodate any significant population increase. The general requirement is to relax those restrictions capable of being relaxed and control those that should be controlled.
To completely lift restrictions in administrative townships and small cities means there is basically no limit for anyone willing to register a new residence, as long as there is proof of a legal and stable residence, even though such a place is rented. For medium-sized cities, the former restrictions will be relaxed, which means the registration requirement is low. Anyone who has legal and stable residence and employment can register successfully, according to their period of stay in the city of residence. For large cities, the restrictions will also be relaxed if applicable. For cities of one to three million people, anyone with legal, stable employment of sufficient duration, a matching legal and stable residence, and who have been covered by the social insurance system for a certain number of years, can be registered. For cities with three to five million residents, the scale and speed of residence registration will be properly controlled, in order to prevent the population from increasing too quickly. For such cities, the requirements for residence registration will obviously continue to be stricter.
For mega cities containing more than five million people, the Opinion stipulates that the population shall be strictly controlled, and an open and transparent new residence registration channel shall be established through a points system. Especially for cities that have more than 10 million people, any significant increase in population will impose large pressure. For example, in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the migrant population has been increasing by 400,000 to 500,000 annually for the past ten years, which is indeed a huge pressure. Therefore, to strictly control the population in such mega cities is a policy based on China's national conditions and the realities in those cities.
But how? First, the policies on residence registration migration should be made stricter; the policies should be decided according to the conditions and realities in the specific cities. The current residence registration policies should be adjusted and improved, a points system should also be carefully developed, and the related problems should be resolved in accordance with the principles of total quantity control, fairness and equality, and openness and transparency. Meanwhile, mega cities should properly decentralize their economic and other functions so as to ensure an orderly population flow and a sound demographic structure. You may have noticed that mega cities like Beijing and Shanghai have adopted some comprehensive measures recently to mobilize their population and transfer some labor-intensive industries to other places, and adjust and disperse their economic and other functions. For instance, Beijing has clarified that it needs to "lose weight and keep healthy," which means comprehensive measures to deal with its population structure. This is my answer to your question. In regard to the other question, I'd like to invite Vice Minister of Finance Wang Bao'an to answer.
Wang Bao'an:
The fiscal policy has already laid down some foundation measures concerning dovetailing fiscal transfer payments with the national residence registration system. The fiscal transfer payment system has achieved much in adjusting to the residence registration requirements in recent years. For example, the part whereby the de facto population surpasses the registered population has been reflected in the general transfer payment. The balance transfer payment, on the other hand, takes into account the urbanized rural population. For instance, the education transfer payment is decided according to students' registered school (instead of their registered residence), which means the students, whether they come from the countryside or the cities, enjoy the same public service. The achievements made so far provide a firm foundation for the next phase of reform.
Second, the mechanism and means of the transfer payment will be further improved to adjust to the residence registration system, public service reforms and development of the national informatization program, in order to promote the orderly flow of urban and rural population and the continued healthy development of the urbanization process.
China News Service:
I have two questions. First, are there any recent official statistics on the number of migrant workers in China? Second, what does the government plan to do to ensure migrant workers' employment and their settlement in cities? Thank You.
Yang Zhiming:
Thank you for your concern about migrant workers. Vice Minister Huang Ming has explained that the upcoming reform on household registration system is designed to deal with the settlement in cities of some 100 million people from rural areas. Migrant workers constitute the majority of the transferred agricultural population. They have become an important emerging labor force in China's rapid industrialization and urbanization since the Reform and Opening-Up more than 30 years ago.
Reforming the household registration system will have positive influence on migrant workers' merger into cities. The transfer of agricultural labor with Chinese characteristic can pointedly stimulate employment, preserve ownership of land and promote urbanization in a gradual way.
As to your question on the population of migrant workers, it was 269 million at the end of last year, including 166 million leaving home to work in another town or city. At the end of June of this year, the number of migrant workers leaving home to work in another town or city reached 174 million, 3.07 million more than the previous year in the same period. While the growth rate of migrate worker population is expanding steadily, the overall population slightly dropped, along with some regional differences.
Central and western China have seen a faster increase in the population of migrant workers moving to the urban areas compared to eastern China. In terms of industrial distribution, they mostly find employment in manufacturing, construction and service sectors, and more have moved into the service sector over the past years.
As to your second question, years' of experience has shown that engaging in manual labor, running business, among other stable forms of employment, are the main ways for migrant workers to gain a foothold in cities.
The government plans to step up its efforts to facilitate migrant workers' employment in four ways:
First, we will improve their skills. Since having a skill that is in demand is important for migrant workers' employment, and only about a third of migrant workers nationwide have so far received government-subsidized skill training, we will implement the "Plan to Improve Migrant Workers' Vocational Skills" across the country immediately, under the guidance of the "Project on New-Type Urbanization (2014-2020)" and the State Council Leading Group Office for Migrant Workers.
Under the plan, more than 20 million migrant workers, including those just entering the labor force as well as those already in jobs, will obtain various skill-training and skill-honing programs each year, such as the "Spring Wave Action" sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the "Sunny Project" by the Ministry of Agriculture, "Star and Fire Plan" by the Ministry of Sciences and the "Rain Dew Plan" by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
We are trying to ensure that, by 2020, every migrant worker will have received at least one government-subsidized skill-training program to upgrade them from ordinary workers to specialized technicians and above.
Second, we will continue to develop the tertiary industry, mid- and small-sized businesses, and labor-intensive industries, which have huge potential in accommodating employment of migrant workers.
For instance, China now has 20 million people working in household-service sector, and we estimate there is room for another 10 million jobs in the sector given that 15 percent of families nationwide require a home servant, though according to the internationally-recognized standard, the ratio is normally 30 percent.
Apart from that, middle- and small-sized businesses will be the main channel for migrant workers' employment, as they act as a critical enabler in promoting development, increasing income and creating jobs. We will do more to help migrant workers find jobs in the city.
Fourth, we will build a nationwide information network for migrant worker's employment, in which we will provide free job information and policy consultation.
Thank You.
China National Radio and CNR.cn:
I saw such regulations in the "Opinions": to guarantee equal rights to education for the offspring of transferred agricultural population and accompanying offspring of other members of the permanent resident population, so as to incorporate all in the service system of community health and family planning and to offer the basic medical care service system. My question is for the Ministry of Education and the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Are there any specific actions planned in regard to these two regulations? Thank you.
Liu Limin:
I'd like to answer your first question. This is very important, because it refers to the issue of educational equality. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council pay great attention to the education of accompanying offspring. The Ministry of Education will take concrete and efficient measures with relevant departments to actively ensure they receive a proper education and can take entrance examinations in the places to which they have immigrated.
First is the promotion of inclusive pre-school education. In 2010, according to the "Several Opinions on Developing the Current Pre-school Education," the Ministry of Education carried out the "three-year action plan of pre-school education" in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance. In the plan, we established a program named "comprehensive awards and allowances for pre-school education in cities", aimed at supporting local governments and focus on the inclusive kindergartens to solve the entrance problems of accompanying offspring of migrant workers. By such means, benefits have covered more than three million children in the past three years. This is one aspect.
The second step has been action mainly aimed at getting public schools to receive accompanying offspring to ensure they receive compulsory education. In this aspect, we have always adopted the policy of "two priorities," which is to give priority to local governments receiving immigrants and to public schools. People may have noticed that there has been an increase of a million per year for the public schools receiving accompanying offspring. Up to the end of 2013, there were 12 million such children included in national compulsory education, 80 percent at public schools.
The third step is to promote free secondary vocational education. From 2009, the ministries of finance, education, human resources and social security and the National Development and Reform Commission carried out the policy of free secondary vocational education and continuously extended the range. By 2012, 90 percent of secondary vocational students benefited from the policy. Up to this year, 19 provinces and cities have extended the policy to all secondary vocational students. It means in most provinces, the accompanying offspring can receive free secondary vocational education.
The fourth step has been to ensure accompanying offspring can take part in the entrance examinations in their new places of residence. In this regard, you may have noticed the No. 46 document issued in August 2012 by the State Council General Office. According to it, 27 provinces had clarified the policy for senior-high school entrance examination and 30 provinces clarified the policy for college entrance examination for accompanying offspring in local places. In 2014, a total of 28 provinces began to deal with the question of the college entrance examination for accompanying offspring, involving taking the exam at a place different from the household register. This year, 56,000 qualified accompanying offspring checked out the registration procedures for the college entrance examination.
Next, according to the general requirements of reforms to the household registration system introduced by Minister Huang, we'll devote ourselves to four aspects.
The first relates to planning. The Ministry of Education will guide the country to incorporate the permanent resident population, including accompanying offspring, into regional education development plans.
The second point related to funding. We require all places to allocate educational funds according to the number of in-school accompanying offspring of migrant workers. Just now, Minster Wang Bao'an also mentioned this issue and, meanwhile, we will strengthen the efforts of giving special awards from central finance to local schools that receive such students.
The third point covers guidance with respect to the different classifications, we require all the provinces and cities to adopt measures suiting local conditions to reasonably make policies for accompanying offspring to enter schools and to guarantee that they can receive equal education.
The fourth step is to strengthen management. We will constantly improve the national primary and secondary school students registration information management system. The data bank contains all students in national compulsory education and senior high school levels, including accompanying offspring, which give us a comprehensive, timely and accurate grasp of dynamic information, namely one person one number that never changes through life. So, at present, we can clearly know how many students are in compulsory education, and how many of these are accompanying offspring. We aim to better strengthen our services for them. Thank you.
Wang Pei'an:
Thank you for your attention to the question of the transferred agricultural population enjoying the basic public services of health care and family planning. To answer the question, I will firstly briefly introduce the existing conditions of community health institutions in cities. The community health care and family planning institution is the basic facility for health care and the family planning service system in cities, which has a public nature and provides basic medical care and public health services. In big and medium sized cities, the government, in principle, establishes one community health service center and several stations as necessary per 30,000 to 100,000 residents, or according to the scope of the relevant street office. Up to the end of 2013, there were 8,488 centers, 25,500 stations and manned by 476,000 personnel. The community health care service system has been basically established. Permanent residents in the area of jurisdiction, including the transferred agricultural population and other permanent resident population, can enjoy community health care services.
In regard to medical care services, we always include the transferred agricultural population and other permanent resident population within the range of disease prevention and control. According to the requirements of the "Law of the PRC on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases", we implement territorial management; that is, the health administrative department of the people's government is responsible for infectious disease prevention and treatment and supervision and management for all the population (including registered residents and non-registered residents) in its administrative division. According to the "Expanded Immunization Program Action Scheme", all children reaching a certain age are targets of immunization and can get State-regulated and guaranteed vaccination for free.
In regard to family planning, according to the "Administrative Regulation on Family Planning Technical Services", all the married women of childbearing age, including the floating population, can get the free basic technical service of family planning, mainly containing the technical guidance, consultation and clinical medical service of family planning. Besides, the migrant population can receive free contraceptive devices at the nearest place ensured by the special funds from the central budget. Next, we will combine the reforms of the registration system, in accordance with the actual population in the area of jurisdiction, and reasonably regulate and constantly adjust the layout of the community health care and family planning institutions to satisfy the health demands of residents in the area of jurisdiction, including the transferred agricultural population and other permanent population. Thank you.
Shenzhen TV:
My question is for the minister. You mentioned that China's implementation of the household registration reform is aimed at helping about 100 million people register in cities and towns. My question is, will the reform be carried out step by step and is there a special schedule for the reform? You also mentioned that the population in megacities should be strictly controlled, does that mean that it will be more difficult to settle in those megacities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen?
Huang Ming:
We aim to help about 100 million members of the rural and permanent population without an urban household registration to settle in towns and cities by 2020, which is the overall national expected target, not an assigned quota. The number of 100 million is just approximate. We will be practical in handling all matters and persevere in seeking truth from facts when carrying out the reform. I also want to highlight that the object of the reform is in keeping with China's real conditions. There are more than 200 million rural residents who have moved to cities in China, and the number has continued to grow. Cities will become more attractive due to the sustained and healthy development of urbanization. We believe that the target is realistic and feasible based on the assessment and calculation conducted by China's Ministry of Public Security and the National Bureau of Statistics.
As for your second question, generally speaking, we will strictly control the size of the population in megacities. But we will introduce measures according to the conditions in different cities as well as personal circumstances. We will make sure that our measures benefit the development of cities. Local governments should establish and improve a points system as well as open and transparent channels for the household registration system, this is already a specific requirement. Cities can introduce policies according to their specific circumstances. Thank you.
CRI:
In our understanding, the household registration system in many small and medium-sized cities has been open to migrants, but in fact it has not attracted many rural migrants to obtain resident status in such cities. What measures will be introduced in the future to help small and medium-sized cities attract more migrants?
Li Pumin:
Helping small and medium-sized cities become more attractive is important for both China's new type urbanization and the reform of the household registration system, because small and medium-sized cities are major destinations for migrant workers in China. According to statistics, more than 50 percent of the rural migrants flock to county-level and prefecture-level cities. Helping small and medium-sized cities become more attractive to migrants is very important in boosting China's new urbanization and drawing more migrants to settle there.
The following major measures will be taken:
First, we will improve public transportation in small and medium-sized cities, which is essential to the development in those regions only if public transportation has been improved can industries in those areas develop well and attract more migrants. According to the requirements of China's guidelines for developing a new type of urbanization, by 2020, standard railway networks will cover cities with a population of more than 200,000, and high-speed railway networks will cover almost all cities with a population of more than 500,000. The standard national road network should cover almost all counties and national highways should cover almost all cities with a population of more than 200,000.
Second, we will improve the industrial foundation in small and medium-sized cities. We should introduce more industrial projects and develop key industries, which can increase the number of job opportunities in these regions and make them more attractive.
Third, we will strengthen the construction of urban infrastructure and public service facilities in middle-sized and small cities. Middle-sized and small cities have great potential, which means we still need to do more to promote the construction of urban infrastructure and public service facilities. In foreign countries, a large number of renowned universities are located in middle-sized and small cities, but this is not common in China. Therefore, we have to strengthen the construction of infrastructure, education, health care and other public resources. We will encourage more universities and higher vocational education institutions to transfer to middle-sized and small cities, and help advanced health care institutions set up branches in small cities and counties. Meanwhile, middle-sized and small cities need to overcome some institutional and mechanism barriers to enhance their attractiveness. Thank you.
Beijing Times:
I would like to ask a question about controlling the super-large scale of population strictly. You have mentioned further control in the scale of cities with super-large population as well as establishment of a points system. Are the indicators and scores of the system going to be issued by the cities based on their situations or is it going to release a national level guide? Besides, it has been mentioned that legal and stable employment and residence may be an indicator. Is it possible to make the system fairer? Thank you.
Huang Ming:
The points system should be in accordance with the development situation of cities. But, the central policy makes clear requirements. Besides, the State Council will hold meetings to further put forward specific requirements, in order to ensure control of the total amount and ensuring fairness, transparency and everything action in accordance with the law. Please rest assured! I believe that every city will do so. Thank you.
Yang Zhiming:
Stable employment is just one of the conditions. We consider people possessing a labor contract are in a kind of stable employment, including simple contracts in industries featuring strong seasonality and a relatively short employment period like construction and catering, according to the suggestion on further promoting the household registration system reform. It benefits the migrant workers merging into enterprises, their children merging into schools, and their families merging into communities to build the basis for their eventual urbanization.
Ta Kung Pao:
In the process of reforming the household registration system, how can we maintain the rural residents' land contracting management right, rural homestead land use right and the distribution right of collective income? Thank you.
Zhao Yang:
We have three thoughts on this question. Firstly, the "Three Rights" of rural residents including the rural land contracting management right, the rural homestead land use right and the distribution right of collective income are powers given under many laws such as the Property Law and Law on Land Contract in Rural Areas. The distribution right of collective income is also a legal property right that rural residents should enjoy as a member of a collective economic organization. Therefore, we must protect these three important rights of rural residents in accordance with the law. We are implementing the central government's policy on stabilizing the existing land contract relationship and ensuring no change in the long term. We are also accelerating the verification and registration of the rural land rights, to guarantee the rural residents' rural land contracting management right and rural homestead land use right. Meanwhile, we are actively promoting property rights system reform of rural collective economic organizations and exploring effective ways to improve it, in order to protect rural residents' collective property rights and income distribution rights.
There is also the issue of whether rural residents who have settled down in urban areas should give up the "Three Rights" with compensation. That should be based on fully respecting their wishes. Development of the new type of urbanization will be a long historical process. Rural residents need to go through an adaptation process when they come to cities. In this process, the urban governments should provide fair public services taking into account bearing capacity. Besides, there is a step-by-step process of improvement underway. Maintaining the "Three Rights" of rural residents as discussed in the document is a means to provide them with a backup offer, to make sure their urbanization process becomes smoother and more harmonious.
Thirdly, you may notice that the document says it is not allowed to ask rural residents to give up their "Three Rights" in order to settle down in cities at the present stage. The reason of using the term "at the present stage" is a scientific judgment based on the current economic development and maturity of society. Of course, the historical process and development stage could be very long, so we must have enough patience and determination in promoting the process. Along with economic growth and social development, the public service level will be improved in the future. And we need further comprehensive development and equalization. I think the system and laws about "Three Rights" will keep on improving.
CCTV:
Reform of the household registration system is an issue of great concern to society. The previous speakers talked about the objectives and the corresponding specific measures. My question now is: in order to achieve these objectives, what challenges can we anticipate, and how will you solve them? Thank you.
Huang Ming:
Thank you for your question. The reform of the household registration system certainly involves many challenges, being a systematic and complicated undertaking affecting many other fields.
The first challenge is China's large population, which has created gaps in development between urban and rural areas, different regions and large and small cities. The same challenge also applies to balancing the aspects that led to these gaps.
Second, there are welfare policies attached to the household registration system for a long time, and these are difficult to detach. Reforming the household registration system would have been fairly easy but for these various welfare undertakings and benefits.
Third, different groups will raise different demands that naturally create difficulties in coordinating the reform. As a reporter just mentioned in regard to megacities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, we are aware that many people elsewhere stubbornly seek to get the same level of benefits as residents of those areas and it's difficult to meet their demand.
Such issues have show that the reform of the household registration system is a difficult, complicated, and long-term undertaking. The smooth progress of reform requires us to carefully implement the four principles stipulated in the "Opinion."
We should assume a proactive yet prudent attitude in our work to ensure everything is conducted in an orderly way. That means we have to be cautious in prioritizing the use of current benefits and rational in unveiling additional ones. We also must properly guide public expectations in regard to our capacity to bear the load, to prevent unrealistic pursuit and reckless advancement.
We should adhere to the people-oriented principle and respect the wishes of the general public. For example, as we often say, we should let rural residents decide whether they want to move into cities. If they do, it is also their decision on when to make the move and in which city they choose. We should refrain from aggressive measures such as "forcing" rural residents to move or forcing them to accept urban household registration.
We should conduct our work according to different local conditions and understand these differences. In other words, there can be no universal method in implementing national policies to settle rural residents in cities.
We don't impose top-down quotas, thus leaving room for maneuver by local authorities. To sum up, we should continue to expand public services covering both people with local household residence permits and those who are yet to settle down in the city.
Thank you.
Phoenix TV:
I would like to ask Minister Huang Ming two questions. First, as the government will launch the Residence Permit system in the future, does that mean the current Temporary Residence Permit system will be abolished? My second question is, though this press conference is about the household registration, there is another item of breaking news that needs to be addressed, which is directly relevant to the Ministry of Public Security. So I want to ask, could you give us some latest updates about the terrorist attack in Kashgar, Xinjiang?
Huang Ming:
Regarding the question about the Residence Permit, the Ministry of Public Security has carried out in-depth surveys and studies, summarized local experiences and approaches in various areas. We have drafted administrative measures and submitted them to the State Council. Currently, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council is carrying out in-depth research and evaluation and will further modify and perfect it. Its relationship with the Temporary Residence Permit will also be clarified and defined in the administrative measures.
Regarding the terror attack in Xinjiang, the Xinjiang government has already published relevant information and is taking care of the situation.
Thanks!
The Beijing News:
The "Opinions" makes it clear that peasants who have registered as urban residents should be incorporated into the urban housing guarantee system. But there are many peasants who work in cities without registering as urban residents. How to accommodate them? Besides, Shanghai already has been exercising the points system in residence registration, but Beijing has not done so. Minister Huang, do you think Beijing will be able to exercise such a system immediately? Thank you.
Feng Jun:
The residence and employment of migrant workers are two interconnected issues. To address the issue of their residence, the general principle is to "walk on two feet," which means bringing the market allocation of resources, and the government 's exercise of its functions in guarantees and providing public services together. On the other hand, we should encourage migrant workers with financial ability to purchase or rent houses on their own. Second, we should enhance the responsibilities of government and businesses, and incorporate into the housing guarantee system those financially-disadvantaged migrant workers unable to resolve their housing problems. We should meet their needs by providing public rented houses and offer rent subsidies. We will address the problems in three ways.
First, for those peasants who have already registered as urban residents will enjoy the same rights as local citizens. Those who meet the conditions of the housing guarantee system will be completely incorporated into it. Second, migrant workers who have not registered as urban residents but have acquired residence permits will be gradually incorporated into the housing guarantee system and enjoy the related rights if they meet local government conditions such as proof of enduring stable employment, being covered by the social insurance system and having lived in a stable way in a city for fairly long time. We have already asked cities at prefecture-level and above to incorporate such migrant workers into the housing guarantee system. In the development zones and industrial parks where there are a large number of migrant workers, some public rented houses (of a unit or dormitory nature) should be built. Third, for those migrant workers who have not registered as urban citizens and who are unable to meet the housing guarantee conditions, companies hiring them should provide them with a safe and sanitary residence.
Huang Ming:
Concerning the points system, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and many other provinces and cities have been rolling out such a system and making positive explorations to improve the system. The "Opinions" propose to practice the points system in mega cities and cities with three to five million people, by summarizing previous experiences. Beijing and other cities will put in place their own points system as soon as possible according to the principles laid down by the central government. Each and every region and department will study specific policies and publish details of new measures as soon as possible, and implement them earnestly. Thank you.
Nanfang Daily:
The "Opinions" mentions speeding up the unification of the pension system for urban and rural residents. I would like to ask if there is any specific time schedule for that, and how about the current reform situation?
The second question is for Mr. Huang Ming. How do you evaluate the points system for urban household registration in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, and could you please give us a brief assessment on the current experience and effects. Thank you.
Yang Zhiming:
In accordance with relevant regulations, migrant workers will be qualified to apply for urban household registration once they have worked for a certain period in the city. We think this policy is conductive to the legal participation for migrant workers in pension system. On July 1 this year, the "Interim Measures for Convergence of Urban and Rural Pension Insurance System" jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Ministry of Finance officially went into effect. According to the rules, migrant workers meeting the following three conditions could be included into the city's pension system as urban residents:
1. Migrant workers working in enterprises can be covered by the basic pension system for enterprise employees according to rules.
2. Migrant workers employed flexibly are free to participate in the basic pension system either for enterprise employees or for urban residents.
3. Migrant workers who have already participated in the pension system for rural residents could transfer to urban pension insurance system.
In a word, we are working hard to ensure that no matter where migrant workers would like to work, they can be covered by pension system. Thank you！
Huang Ming:
On the question of the points system, as I mentioned before, the "Opinions" looks to improvement in the system after collecting experiences from different regions and departments. Local governments will implement the rules gradually according to the requirements and arrangement of the State Council. It will take a long time to complete the reform of household registration system. During the process, we will be glad to communicate with the public and press and we are looking forward to your continuous attention and support. Thanks you all!
Guo Weimin:
This ends today's press conference. Thank you all.
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