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)