Guangdong will soon roll out concrete measures to protect the rights and interests of migrant workers and other disenfranchised groups, provincial party chief Wang Yang says in an online chat with the public.
A policy document on strengthening 'social construction' was imperative, Wang said yesterday. Despite stellar economic growth in the past few decades, Guangdong still owed a 'social debt' to communities whose civil and democratic awareness was on the rise, he said.
His remarks follow a spate of unrest that has rocked the province. Migrant workers in Zengcheng and Chaozhou vandalised cars and torched government offices in protest at perceived injustices.
Wang said his government would meet on 'social construction' in the middle of this month and release a policy paper that would include concrete steps on achieving it. 'In all those years of focusing on economic development, we have neglected 'social construction',' he said during a two-hour web chat. 'Social development in many ways has lagged behind economic progress; many debts have to be repaid in this regard.'
He said the government should attach great importance to the public and social services demanded by the more than 36 million migrant workers who make up more than 35 per cent of the Guangdong population.
Wang said his government must deepen its understanding of social development, explore suitable approaches based on the public's needs, refine laws and regulations and strengthen funding and administrative manpower to back 'social construction'. He promised concrete measures to improve livelihoods, boost grass-roots welfare, improve public services, nurture non-governmental organisations and create a more democratic environment.