Various privileges should be disconnected from the residence
registration system, says a signed article in Xiaoxiang Morning
Post. An excerpt follows:
Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Office of the Central
Financial Work Leading Group, said at a press conference last
Thursday that reform of the permanent residence registration system
involves complicated interest relations and will be a gradual
process.
He said that in the old planned economy, the permanent residence
registration system was attached with many interest
connections.
It is a unique Chinese phenomenon to have a permanent residence
registration system hooked to so many interests. In the long-term,
to better manage the population and maintain social order, China
has strictly divided its permanent residence into two categories:
agricultural and non-agricultural.
Under such a system, permanent residence registration is more
than a presentation of identity but a guarantee of privilege to
enjoy resources and interests. Many rights and interests issues,
including employment, education, housing and medical treatment are
associated with one's permanent residence.
The essence of our permanent residence registration system
reform should be ensuring people's freedom of migration and their
rights of equality, therefore realizing the country's overall
development.
The basic functions of the permanent residence registration
system are to prove citizens' identification and provide population
data. The reform of our permanent residence registration system is
to disconnect various kinds of interests from the residence
registration and give it back the original look.
A complete and unified social security system is needed to give
all citizens the same "national treatment."
(China Daily February 27, 2006)