Luo Gan, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Friday called for expanding welfare undertakings and helping a special group of disadvantaged people to increase their living standards steadily.
It constitutes not only a major obligation for the Party and government but a common task for the whole society, he noted.
He made these remarks during his meeting with members of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is now in its first session in Beijing, who had come from the social welfare and security circles.
Luo joined in the panel discussion with these CPPCC National Committee members and discussed issues like social insurance system for urban laid-off workers, protection of the rights of the disabled people, and the increase of legal aid to them.
Luo said the recipients of the social welfare and security services are those in need, such as factory layoffs, the ageing population, those suffering from illness and injuries, or the disabled, and people from poor and low-income families. He called for great attention to be attached to the resolution of the difficulties in their work and daily life.
It is an embodiment of the implementation of the important thought of "Three Represents," which says the CPC always represents the most advanced productivity and culture, and the fundamental interests of the maximal majority of the people, according to the official.
China is expected to face enormous pressure from the reemployment of the layoffs and of new laborers, in the wake of the in-depth readjustment of the economic structure and the reform of state-owned enterprises, Luo Gan said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2003)
