A proposal that would limit the number of migrant workers into
the capital has been called discriminatory at the third session of
the 10th Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The meeting started on January 22 and will end today.
The proposal, to set up an admittance system to better control
inward migration from other parts of the country, was put forward
by Zhang Weiying, a member of the municipal committee and professor
at Beijing's Renmin University
of China.
"Groups of poorly organized migrant workers flowing into the
city, half of whom have no stable income or dwelling, pose great
potential harm to Beijing," Zhang said. "The city should set out
clearly what professionals it needs."
"The city is over-burdened already in trying to balance its
population and limited resources." She said the "exhausted city"
would find it hard to maintain its planned pace of development
under such huge population pressures.
Zhang said she first noticed the significance of the issue eight
years ago, but thought the problem could be solved by economic
means. "But things are different now. The problem has become more
urgent," she said.
But objectors say moving the goalposts to stop so many coming in
would constitute discrimination. Fellow committee member Wan
Jianzhong criticized the proposal as "overbearing."
Wan, a professor at Beijing
Normal University, said the population flow reflects an
improvement in people's living standards.
He said a fluid population was necessary to keep development
balanced between different cities.
Zhang Shouquan, also a member of the committee, said local
government should use economic and legal means rather than
administrative orders to curb the city's population expansion.
He said slowing down local population growth was a must for
Beijing as its limited natural resources such as water and natural
gas could not bear too many people.
"Migrants have contributed a lot to Beijing's economic and
social development and Beijing still needs more workers to fuel its
progression towards becoming an international metropolis," he
added.
Under the city's plan for 2004-20, Beijing is trying to keep its
population under 18 million.
(China Daily January 26, 2005)