China's State Council approves documents on social security, patent enforcement

Senior residents have lunch at a day-care center for the elderly in Hanshou County of Changde City, central China's Hunan Province, June 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council, or the cabinet, on Tuesday adopted a guideline on promoting dynamic monitoring of the low-income population and multi-tiered and categorized social assistance, as well as action plans on meal assistance for the elderly and on patent enforcement.

Efforts should be made to make social assistance work more precise, prompt, and effective to better safeguard people's livelihoods, according to a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang.

The meeting noted that governments at all levels must shoulder their responsibilities, strengthen assistance to people in need, and ensure that the payments and benefits are made on time and in full.

More work should be done to meet the basic needs of people in difficulty and guarantee a safe and warm winter for the public.

The meeting said local governments must tailor region-specific services regarding meal assistance for senior citizens and tilt policy support towards rural areas to help them improve services.

Regarding patent enforcement, the country must fully tap the potential of patents and put more effort into nurturing patent-intensive industries, according to the meeting.

China should also increase policy incentives, focus on the practical demand regarding sci-tech research, and improve market services to ensure that innovation transformation results in productive forces at a faster pace, said the meeting.