Residency reform to benefit 13m
Print Edition
CHINA is to give household registration permits to unregistered citizens, opening up basic rights such as schooling and health care to around 13 million people, according to a high-level reform meeting held yesterday.
Various social benefits such as medical insurance and access to basic education are based on permits known as hukou and are supposed to be in line with long-term places of work and residence.
“It is a basic legal right for Chinese citizens to lawfully register for hukou. It’s also a premise for citizens to participate in social affairs, enjoy rights and fulfill duties,” said a statement released after a meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms.
The meeting was presided over by President Xi Jinping, who heads the group.
China has around 13 million unregistered people, about 1 percent of its population. They include orphans and second children born illegally during enforcement of the one-child policy, the homeless and those who have yet to apply for one or who have simply lost theirs. Parents who violated the country’s family planning policy often refrained from getting hukou for their children in order to avoid fines.
Yesterday’s meeting was told that registration should take place irrespective of family planning and other policy limits, and those without hukou who face difficulties in applying should see their problems solved.
“The number of people without hukou, their distribution and causes should be made clear ... and every citizen’s right to hukou should be protected in accordance with the law,” the statement said.
It was stressed that hukou registration should be coordinated with family planning, adoption, aid for the homeless and nationality management.
Senior officials also approved a document to merge China’s medical insurance schemes for urban and rural residents in a bid to guarantee equal access to basic health care.
The schemes’ coverage, fundraising policies and fund management should be unified, according to the meeting.
The meeting urged building a “multi-layered medical security net” integrating basic medical insurance, insurance for major diseases, medical assistance, commercial medical insurance and charity funds.
China implements three separate medical insurance schemes — basic medical insurance for urban employees, the new rural cooperative medical scheme, and basic medical insurance for city dwellers not covered by the first two schemes, mainly underage and unemployed people.
Calls have been made to put the three under one administration in order to increase efficiency.
The meeting also decided to raise the level and quality of opening up in the education sector.
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