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The bitingly cold winter and the approach of the holiday season have set a timely stage for the government to show compassion for the needy.

After two decades focused on economic growth, China's new leaders emerged from the 16th party congress last month determined to tackle social issues.

The Standing Committee of the Politburo, headed by new general secretary Hu Jintao, this week stressed the importance of meeting the basic needs of food and shelter for the poor. Party cadres, it says, must stay close to the masses, understand the feelings of the people at the grassroots and take effective steps to alleviate their hardship.

The priority should be given to veterans and their families, pensioners and the unemployed, they said. A relief fund will be disbursed before the Lunar New Year.

While officials have long spoken of poverty alleviation, the 16th party congress put narrowing the income gap as an integral part of the objective of building a 'well-off society' in 20 years.

The campaign will also involve non-government organisations.

'Alleviating poverty is not only an economic goal, but also a social goal,' said Yang Yiyong, deputy director of the Economic Institute of the State Development Planning Commission, who spoke at a meeting sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme this week. 'China must move from eliminating absolute poverty to tackling relative poverty, meeting not only basic needs but demands for development.'

The ideal of a 'well-off society' would guide the government's policy and resource allocation in the coming months, experts said.

Unlike efforts to alleviate poverty in the past, which focused on lifting the poor above the subsistence level in remote rural areas, the new approach put equal emphasis on rural and urban poor, said Li Qiang, chairman of the Sociology Department at Tsinghua University.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, almost 20 million urban and township residents receive some form of assistance, the minimum of which has been set at 152 yuan (HK$142) a month.

Total social security spending had risen from 120 million yuan in 1992 to 10.5 billion yuan this year.

Jurgen Voegle, senior economist at the World Bank's Beijing office, said there had been an increasing awareness that the problem of the urban poor should be addressed. He said this had been illustrated by the heated debates on the question of what form the social safety net should take.

Although there are no reliable figures indicating the number of urban poor, they are relatively few compared to their rural counterparts.

At least 100 million Chinese still live below the international poverty line of US$1 (HK$7.80) per day, Mr Voegle said.

The government poured huge amounts of resources into ecological and infrastructure projects in the western regions, some of which has helped alleviate poverty in those areas, he said.

PRESSING TASK

100 million Chinese live below the international poverty line

Social security spending rises to 10.5 billion yuan this year

Almost 20 million urban and township residents receive help

20-year goal set for creating a 'well-off society'



Winter sharpens challenge to deliver on poverty pledge