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 | Wednesday, April 19, 2000, updated at 09:49(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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China to Adjust Agricultural Laws for WTO EntryTo strive for the development of China's agriculture when the country joins the World Trade Organization (WTO), the top legislature is taking radical measures to adjust its laws on agriculture."The National People's Congress and its Standing Committee shall step up its legislation on agriculture, formulate, revise or abolish outdated laws as soon as possible," said Gao Dezhan, chairman of the NPC sub-committee on agriculture. Gao was addressing a two-day NPC meeting on agricultural legislation, which opened today and attended by officials from both national and local legislatures. "Existing laws provide too much red tape that violates rules of the market economic development," Gao said, adding that "Moreover, as China is going to face greater challenges in agricultural development when it joins the WTO, our existing legal system on agriculture lags far behind the rural economic reform." The NPC subcommittee on agriculture is busy studying what makes a comprehensive legal system on agriculture, Gao said, adding that "China's farming industry will not only face market risks, but also risks from the ever changing nature and climate." China should implement laws on protecting the prices of farm produce, increase bank loans and credits for farmers and farm insurance, he said. China has launched a pilot scheme to replace various fees on farmers with nationally unified taxes in a bid to ease economic burdens. Gao said legislators should draw experience from the trial reforms to formulate laws on reducing exorbitant burdens on farmers by local governments and better protect their legitimate rights. He proposed to make laws on the reasonable exploitation of water resources, protection of forestry and prevention of desertification to ensure sustainable economic development in rural areas, especially in the country's vast western region. More laws should also be worked out in restructuring agricultural production and governing various market entities in rural areas such as the cooperative farms and share-holding rural industries. Local legislators and legal experts said at today's meeting that legislation should be implemented as soon as possible, with soliciting public opinion to ensure a sound development of China's rural economy in the next century.
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