China approves plan for social security development

BEIJING - China approved a five-year plan to speed up the establishment of a social security network that covers both urban and rural citizens by 2015, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said Wednesday.

The government will strive to build a basically complete social security system and a relatively sound management service system by the end of its 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), according to a statement released after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The statement said the country's social security development is unbalanced, as its state in rural areas obviously lags behind, and the coverage rate of some basic social security systems is still low.

It said the government will advance system construction, which includes extending its old-age pension scheme to cover all residents, improving insurance systems for healthcare, employment injury, unemployment and maternity, as well as adopting measures to cope with an aging population.

The government will work to integrate social security mechanisms and management resources in urban and rural areas, in order to allow regional transfer of social insurance, it was promised.

Efforts will also be made to expand the coverage and increase the benefits of the social security system, promote construction of the social assistance system, and strengthen management of and supervision over the social security network.

The meeting also approved a mid- and long-term plan for prevention and treatment of animal diseases, which aims to get the prevention and treatment of 16 types of animal epidemics such as foot-and-mouth disease to reach the country's appraisal standards by 2020.

In addition, the plan aims to significantly lower the sickness and death rates of animals and the risks of animal epidemics against public health, while focusing efforts on preventing the entry and spread of foreign animal diseases.