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China's Poverty Line System to Cover All Urban PoorThe central authorities will take measures to ensure local governments across China to perform their duties in accordance with the law to implement the urban subsistence security system, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Beijing Monday."No urban poor people should be left out of the last 'safety net' of our social relief system," said Li Bengong, director of the Disaster Mitigation and Relief Department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office. The urban subsistence security system, introduced in China in 1994, is a social relief system under which the government grants allowances to people living under the poverty line, and is a major breakaway from the country's traditional social relief networks. The new system is of special significance for the large numbers of workers laid off by loss-making state-owned enterprises, Li said. By September 1999, all of China's 669 cities and 1,638 towns where county-level governments are situated had set up the urban subsistence system, fulfilling the task set by the State Council three months ahead of schedule, and a total of 2.87 million urban residents across the country received allowances, the official noted. In the meantime, the regulations on subsistence security for urban citizens issued by the State Council went into effect as of October 1 last year. According to the official, local governments have set their own poverty lines in accordance with local economic development and financial capabilities, ranging from 319 yuan a month in Shenzhen, a boomtown in south China's Guangdong Province, to 143 yuan in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the northwest. In 1999, the central and local governments paid a total of 1. 969 billion yuan in subsistence allowances, including a central government subsidy of 400 million yuan. Li pointed out that there are two major problems concerning the implementation of the new system. "One is that some poor residents feel ashamed of applying for the allowances and some others just don't know exactly how to apply," he said, noting that the other problem is that in old industrial bases where state-owned enterprises are concentrated and other less-developed inland areas, due to financial strain, a large number of urban residents fail to be covered by the system. He pledged more publicity work to let the public know about the relevant policies in order to increase the coverage of the poverty line policy. The Ministry of Civil Affairs is planning inspections of local governments to ensure the performance of their legal duties to the poor, Li said. The ministry is also working with the Ministry of Finance on ways to channel revenues to less-developed areas to help the urban poor, according to the official.
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