China is renewing its fight against poverty, a senior official announced yesterday, by promising to do all it can to help provide basic needs to people with material and financial difficulties, saying, "we will do better."

Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo said in Beijing: "We will provide social assistance to help those in poverty share the result of the country's reform and development."

In an online talk-show at the websites of the central government and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he said that a social assistance framework has taken definite shape and is steadily improving.

Currently, there are 50 million people receiving regular social assistance from the government, not including those who receive emergency and temporary aid, he said.

Li said the country's social assistance program covers four areas:

Regular social assistance work, which provides minimum living subsidies to poor urban and rural dwellers，covered by minimum subsistence security. It also provides special funds and medical aid to rural five-guarantee villagers who are old, weak, orphaned, widowed, ill, handicapped or in absolute poverty.

Emergency assistance to people suffering from disasters of all types.

Temporary assistance will be made available to those with a low-income and vagrants in urban areas.

Social assistance from donations.

The official added that in 2005, some 90 million people received government aid for disaster relief. Natural disasters alone left 1,855 people dead and 458 missing.

By the end of last year, 22.05 million urban residents and 6 million rural dwellers had received the minimum living subsidy, Chen Rifa from the ministry's Policy Research Office told China Daily yesterday. The government provides a monthly allowance of between 169 yuan (US$20.8) and 344 yuan (US$42.4) per person, according to regional economic strength.

The government also provided medical aid to 9.4 million urban poor and 1.1 million rural poor last year, Chen said.

Vice-Minister Li said this year, the government plans to raise the total amount of funds offered through regular social assistance.

Li noted that starting this year, the government rather than the villages, will provide cash to rural five-guarantee villagers. Chen said 3.2 million villagers nationwide received five guarantees of food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses last year.

Li urged individuals, businesses and institutions to offer more donations to help perfect the social mutual assistance network.

During a new donation drive initiated by President Hu Jintao last December, more than 540 million yuan (US$66.6 million) in cash and 41 million pieces of donated quilts and clothing have been sent to people in need, Li said.

However, the government's current input of social assistance is still lower than its economic progress, according to a report released last September by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Chen of the Ministry of Civil Affairs predicted the ratio of current input only accounts for less than 0.02 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

"Development is our first priority, because it is only through development that we can increase our input into social assistance," Li said.

(China Daily January 25, 2006)