Extracts. President on Population Control, Resources and Environmental Protection President on Population Control, Resources and Environmental Protection ------------------------------------------------------------------------Popu lation control, resources and environmental protection will be three crucial issues in China's march toward becoming a great power in the new century, President Jiang Zemin told a seminar held by the Communist Party of China Central Committee Sunday. Jiang said that governmental decisions concerning the country's population control, resources and environmental protection demand concerted efforts and cooperation from all walks of life. Jiang warned that although marked progress had been made during the 1996-2000 period, China is still facing many problems and challenges concerning population, resources and environmental protection in the coming years. "These issues are directly related to the country's overall development. Failure in handling them may postpone the achievement of China's set goals in terms of social and economic development," said Jiang. Jiang said that the next few years will be a crucial stage for China to stabilize its birth rate at the current low level and improve population quality. When dealing with population issues, governments at all levels should better serve the people's needs, and turn the country's birth control efforts into a cause benefiting China's huge populace, Jiang remarked. Jiang also said that resource-related works should better serve the country's sustainable development. Protection and rational utilization of resources are to be granted equal importance by administration departments. Meanwhile, the president called for the establishment of a strict resources administration mechanism, and urged the transformation of the traditional resource-utilizing norms, to save natural resources from being wasted. Jiang suggested the use of new technologies and a complete monitoring system to curb the country's long-standing environmental pollution, while guaranteeing healthy economic development. Also in his speech, Jiang stressed the importance of improving the regulation of China's scarce water resources and the further construction of irrigation works. Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing, Li Lanqing and other senior officials attended Sunday's seminar. **** China to Control Jobless Rate Below 5 Percent While encouraging the development of high-tech industries in the next five years, China is also going to provide more support to labor-intensive service industries, including private businesses, in an effort to keep the unemployment rate below 5 percent, top labor official Zhang Zuoji said in Beijing Saturday. Zhang, minister of labor and social security, outlined China's labor policy for the 10th five-year plan period at a press conference held by the ongoing session of the National People's Congress. In the next five years, the minister said, China's total labor supply is estimated at 52 million, but the country's industries can only offer about 40 million jobs, he said. Over the past five years, the number of farm workers have for the first time been reduced to below 50 percent of the total population, and employment in the service industry has been increasing faster than that in the manufacturing industry, the minister noted. The size of the workforce in state-owned enterprises has dropped dramatically, while that in the private and other non- state sectors has skyrocketed, he said. The minister put the 2000 unemployment rate at 3.1 percent. **** CPPCC Members on Urbanizing Rural Areas Members of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) expressed their confidence that urbanizing rural areas will forcefully push forward China's national economic development. Member Huang Guancong pointed out, rural urbanization can not only ease the pressure of surplus labor in rural areas, increase farmers' income and promote agricultural structural adjustment, but also curb the flow of rural laborers into big cities and help stimulate national economic development. Members talked about the subject during group discussions on the Outline of the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2001-2005) delivered by Premier Zhu Rongji at the fourth session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC), in session here since March 5. The Ninth CPPCC National Committee has also been in session in the national capital since March 3. A survey shows that China has built more than 55,000 small cities and towns, turning 100 million rural residents into urbanites. The Chinese Government has decided to construct 10,000 more key small cities and towns early this century, for the purpose of boosting rural development. Rural urbanization is a strategy that has been adopted by many countries to bring along economic and social progress in rural areas. Huang Guancong said, small cities and towns should be developed in accordance with local economic strength, population size and other specific conditions, so that land and other resources can be appropriately utilized. Members also voiced their opinions on environmental protection, making good use of local special resources and maintaining a good social order in small cities and towns. Statistics show that China's small cities and towns now produce one quarter of the national GDP. **** UN Palestinian Agency Slams Israel for Siege Against Palestinians The UN Palestinian relief agency on Saturday accused Israel of imposing siege against the Palestinians, saying that the arbitrary practices have violated the international law. Peter Hansen, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), made the accusation at a news conference held here, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported. Hansen warned that a humanitarian catastrophe will take place in the Palestinian self-rule areas if Israel continues its policy of blockade and aggressions against the unarmed Palestinians. The Palestinian agriculture sector has been "sharply worsened" during the past six months following Israel's plans to uproot trees, destroy citrus orchards and other crops under allegations of ensuring security for Jewish settlers, the UN official said. He said that he would meet with Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Monday to review the worsening conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, adding that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was exerting intensive diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the humanitarian issue. Israel has imposed a military blockade on the Palestinian territories since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli aggressions last September. Hansen said that the UNRWA has called for 39 million U.S. dollars of emergency food and medicine aid for the Palestinians, and the appeal was receiving response from the world community. **** Another 10 Million Women to Enjoy Maternity Insurance To protect women's rights in a more efficient way, the Chinese government will inspire another 10 million women to buy maternity insurance, thus increasing the figure to 40 million this year. Officials in charge of labor resources said maternity insurance can cover medical treatment charges and maternity subsidies in order to satisfy women's basic needs for medical care during the period. The ongoing social welfare system reform nationwide has brought a series of changes in medical care, which also requires changes in the old maternity care. The nationwide social welfare reform is aimed to share the heavy financial burden in the aspect between enterprises and individuals instead of the previous sole responsibility of companies. With the changes, the country expects to better protect human rights and at the same time lessen the financial burdens of the working units. Various factors in recent years has affected the carrying out of the maternity insurance in the country. Official records show that by now, over 50 percent of the cities and counties have launched the social welfare project, benefiting nearly 30 million female employees. Coverage rates in a dozen provinces and regions such as Shanxi, Yunnan, Fujian, and Jiangxi have exceeded 80 percent. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
