Extracts. China Unwraps New Social Security Reform Package With no ribbon-cutting, China launched a project Sunday to weave the world's largest social security network in a heavily burdened industrial base in the northeast. Liaoning, a province with 40 million people and the center of the rusty industrial belt, was the only pilot province selected to establish a new independent province-wide social security system with diversified fund channels and socialized management in three years. Some of the major tasks are to adjust and perfect the current pension insurance system being practiced in urban areas, to speed up the establishment of a basic medicare system for urban employees, to replace the basic living allowance for laid-off workers with unemployment insurance, to improve the minimum standard of living for city residents, to strengthen the pooling and management of social security funds, and to make a social security law as soon as possible. The central government has approved the reform plan which has been revised for four times, said Zhang Zuoji, minister of labor and social security, in Shenyang, capital city of this northeastern province. Liaoning is required to report its experiences to the central government as a reference for building a new social security system in the rest of the country. "The situation in Liaoning is typical and representative in China," the minister said. Liaoning is home to one tenth of the country's large and mid-sized state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Some two million SOE workers have been laid off in recent years and more than 10 million of them are covered by the pension insurance. The province does have some protruding social security problems derived from its tremendous amount of SOEs, retired and laid-off workers, and financial difficulties, Zhang said. Under such circumstances, "if Liaoning succeeds in the experiment, it would be a great boost to the confidence and determination of the central government to establish a nationwide social security system," said the minister. It is both an opportunity and a challenge for Liaoning to pilot this project, said Bo Xilai, governor of the province. "The mission is really tough," he said, explaining the main difficulty is the shortage of funds and the complexity of the work. Deputy Finance Minister Gao Qiang said that a large part of the funding shortage will be met by the central finance during the three-year period. However, Gao added that money could not guarantee that this arduous work would be done successfully. He suggested that local officials and enterprises be very cautious at fulfilling this unprecedented great project. According to experts, the new social security system might not sound new to Westerners but it does offer some novel ideas to Chinese. For example, under the reform package, retirees will no longer have to get their pension from their former enterprises. Instead, a pension insurance fund will pay their pension no matter if the enterprises are well managed or bankrupt. The word "unemployment" will be officially used when someone loses his or her job and gets paid from the unemployment insurance, instead of being "laid off" and receiving the basic living allowance from enterprises. For quite a long time in the past, China had practiced a " cradle-to-grave" welfare system which called for SOEs to be solely responsible for their employees' welfare, including life-long employment, housing, medical expenses, pension, and even children' s schooling. A reform, started in the mid-1980s, changed the situation to some extent as individuals were required to share contributions to their future pensions. But enterprises still have to take care of most of the welfare. China aims to keep the unemployment rate at around five percent in the next five years. It means 2.5 million jobless people out of a cardinal number of nearly 50 million SOE workers across the country at the present time. "It is a matter of great urgency to build a new social security system which can guarantee the essential interest of urban workers and residents," said Zhang Zuoji. Under China's situation, the new social security system could only be built as one that is at a low level but covers an extensively wide range of beneficiaries. At the launch of the reform package, Gu Mingchu's eyes were filled with joy. As general manager of the Shenyang Changbai Computer Group, Gu said that 70 percent of his energy has been consumed in tackling various welfare problems of the company's 10, 000-plus employees. "I think I will be able to spend 80 percent of my energy on management in two years' time," he said, "and I will dare to cut the number of redundant employees, too." The reform plan enables Gu and other SOE managers in the province to transfer social welfare matters to specialized institutions which are independent from the SOEs. Dong Li, a senior official of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, applauded the reform package and urged employers to strictly abide by the Labor Law and other regulations when dealing with their employees. According to Minister Zhang Zuoji, other provinces and autonomous regions can each voluntarily choose one city to try the reform plan, with all the other cities still carrying out the existing social security system. Zhang said he believes that the result of Liaoning's experiment would not only have a impact on the current economic and social life in China but also the country's future. **** U.S. Black Leader Urges Bush to Address Racial Issues A prominent black leader urged the Bush administration to focus on racial profiling, election reform and racial disparities in the death penalty. Kweisi Mfume, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), called for election reform and a "meaningful and quantifiable approach" to racial profiling at a press conference in New Orleans as the annual NAACP convention began. Mfume said inequities in capital punishment that disproportionately affect blacks and Hispanics must be addressed. "We will vehemently fight for what we believe in even if it is against the beliefs of this administration," he said. "The administration gets a mixed report on civil rights, social justice and criminal justice issues," he added. About 20,000 NAACP members and delegates are expected to attend the group's 92nd annual convention, which ends Thursday. Besides racial issues, Mfume said NAACP will also focus on education, economic development, criminal justice and foreign policy during the convention. **** Investigation Into US Navy Destroyer Blast Concludes: Yemen Yemeni Interior Minister Rashid al- Alimi has indicated said that investigation into the cause of the blast of a US Navy destroyer last October in a Yemeni port has been concluded and the case is now ready to go to court. A Yemeni source told Xinhua on Saturday that Alimi said that the United States, however, asked the Yemeni authorities to put off hearing into the case. The request has been accepted as the U.S. side might provide more information about the case, Alimi added. The explosion took place on October 12 last year when an explosive-laden rubber raft ran into the USS Cole missile destroyer, docked in the Red Sea port of Aden in southern Yemen for refuelling, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding several others. Local press on Saturday reported that the U.S. Department of State has reopened the visa section of the U.S. embassy in Yemen and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns is expected to arrive in Sanaa on Monday for a brief visit. Burns is reportedly to meet with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and other senior Yemeni officials on the Cole issue. Also on the agenda of Burns' talks are bilateral ties, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and the efforts aimed at restarting the Mideast peace process. **** 80 Police Injured in New British Race Riot Asian and white youths armed with petrol bombs and baseball bats clashed with police in the industrial city of Bradford in northern England overnight Saturday, causing over 80 police officers injured. Disturbances began in the city center, after crowds gathered to protest against a planned National Front rally, and spread to the largely Asian area of Manningham. Police said 36 people were arrested, 23 of whom were Asian, and 13 white. Two white men received knife injuries - one suffering a slash wound to his back and the other a stab wound to a leg. Bradford, with an Asian population of about 100,000, has a history of good relations between different ethnic groups. This week, Home Secretary David Blunkett granted the police special powers to ban marches and outdoor meetings in Bradford until September 27. But tension flared on Saturday amid reports that members of the National Front still planned to demonstrate. The Anti-Nazi League held a counter-demonstration in Centenary Square attended by about 500 people, mainly Asian men. Witnesses said the violence appeared to have started when a group of white men emerged from a pub and hurled racist abuse at the crowd. As dawn broke on Sunday, police said they were restoring order to the streets of Bradford, but officers said they had come close to being overwhelmed by the violence at one point. **** Taiwan's New Party Delegation to Visit Mainland Taiwan's New Party will send a delegation to visit the Chinese mainland from July 10 to 13. This is in response to the goodwill invitation by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China on the mainland. The trip may result in the establishment of more consultations between the two parties. In an interview in Taiwan on Friday, New Party convener Xie Qida showed the invitation letter to a CCTV reporter. In the letter, the mainland expresses its appreciation of the New Party's objective to stick to the "one China" principle and seek reunification. According to the invitation, the purpose of the trip is to hold consultations on key issues in cross-Strait relations and to expand cooperation. Xie Qida said the New Party delegation will be lead by Xu Linong, who is in charge of the party's mainland affairs. Xie Qida said: "This first trip is to establish a channel for a consultation mechanism. A second or third trip may follow. After being bogged down for a long time, cross-Strait relations need new breakthroughs. We hope our trip is a breakthrough." The convener said that former Taiwan leader Li Teng-hui and present Taiwan leader Chen Shuibian had been both engaged in misleading the public and weakening Taiwan's identity with the mainland under the pretext of localization. She said the establishment of a consultation mechanism with the Communist Party is aimed at clarifying the confused situation and reaching a "one China" consensus. **** China to Improve Environment for Overseas Investment China will work to improve its environment for overseas investment as the country prepares to join the World Trade Organization. Minister of China's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng said Friday that China's reforms and opening up will enter a new stage with the country's accession to the WTO. The trade minister promised to create better environment for overseas businesses in China. While addressing a meeting on overseas investment, Shi Guangsheng said that after China enters the WTO, all its economic sectors will be open to overseas investment. This mutual opening-up process will be strictly operated in accordance with the law. Shi Guangsheng said: "These moves are expected to create a better environment and more development opportunities for overseas investment in China. The future is bright." The minister added that China will improve laws for using overseas investment on the basis of the socialist market economy and WTO trade regulations. He continued that all government bodies will cooperate to create a unified, stable, transparent and predictable policy environment for overseas businesses. The protection of intellectual property rights will be guaranteed. The foreign trade minister also promised to prevent local protectionism, monopoly and random collection of fees. **** Kim Jong Il Pays Respects to Kim Il Sung KCNA reported Sunday: DPRK Leader Kim Jong Il visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace at 00:00 on July 8, the greatest memorial day of the nation, together with the members of the NDC and KPA commanding officers to pay homage to President Kim Il Sung. He entered the hall where the president's statue stands. He was accompanied by KPA vice-marshal Kim Yong Chun, member of the NDC and chief of the KPA general staff- KPA vice-marshal Kim Il Chol, vice-chairman of the NDC and minister of the People's Armed Forces- KPA marshal Ri Ul Sol, member of the NDC- KPA vice-marshal Ri Yong Mu, vice-chairman of the NDC and staff members of the supreme command of the KPA. He bowed to the president in humble reverence together with those present there. **** Iraq Complains to Arab League About Turkish Military Intrusions Baghdad has complained to the Arab League about continued Turkish military intrusions into northern Iraq, the official Iraqi News Agency reported on Sunday. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz lodged the complaint in a message sent to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, condemning the recent Turkish intrusions. Turkish troops stormed into northern Iraq on June 17 and stayed there for three days, Aziz said in the message. Fifty tanks were dispatched to Iraq's Arbil Province and another 40 tanks were deployed in Dahouk and Zakho districts, he added. He condemned the Turkish intrusions as a flagrant aggression and violation of the Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Turkish move contradicts the United Nations Charter and the international law, he stressed, noting that it went against the principle of neighborliness. Aziz urged the Arab League chief to step in to stop the Turkish hostile provocative actions and demand Turkey to respect Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Turkish troops repeatedly intrude into northern Iraq to track down members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in the area that lacks the authority of the Iraqi central government. **** Iran Slams US Remark on Washington-Tehran Ties Iran has rebuffed a recent US remark on their long-broken ties, saying that the impetus for improving relations should come "from Washington and not Tehran." A statement was made by Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in response to the remark by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that "better ties depend on Iran." Powell on Friday told reporters that reformist elements in Iran have "not yet produced a situation where it would be appropriate to not go forward with the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA)." In August 1996 Washington imposed the ILSA on punishment against foreign investment in Iran and Libya. Since the act is going to expire, a powerful pro-Israeli lobby is pressing for another full five-year extension of the controversial legislation. Asefi denounced that Powell "on the one hand encourages Iran to take the first step for better ties and, on the other, reaffirms extension of American sanctions against Iran." "Iranian officials have on many occasions reiterated that the US which has caused a mistrust between the two countries should take the first step and prove its goodwill," he said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency. "The Islamic republic is among the most independent states and draws up its foreign policy in a bid to serve its national interests," he said, stressing that "Iran has always moved in line with its detente policy and will continue to follow up the same policy ... based on its national interests." Iran and the US cut off relations in 1980 after radical students seized the US embassy in Tehran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Washington has since adopted a hostile policy against Tehran and imposed sanctions on it. ***** Thousands Rally in Australia Against NATO, EU Thousands of protesters chanting "shame" marched Sunday to demand that NATO forces pull out of Macedonia and allow an unrestrained crackdown on Albanian guerrillas. Police estimated about 5,000 people, many of Macedonian descent, took part in the peaceful protest to condemn NATO and the European Union, saying they were obstructing the Macedonian defense forces in their fight against Albanian fighters. Australia should use its diplomatic influence to push for a NATO pullout, said Igor Aleksandrov, chairman of the Macedonian Australian Council of Sydney, which organized the rally. "We want to see the Australian government, NATO and the European Union support an immediate and legitimate elimination of all terrorist movements from the Balkans as a basic precondition to peace in Macedonia and the Balkans," Aleksandrov said. "We will continue to lobby for a stop to negotiations with Albanian terrorists and nationalist extremists," he said. The protest followed NATO's role in encouraging the Macedonian government to sign an agreement with an Albanian nationalist group. Macedonian leaders and ethnic Albanian rebels agreed Thursday to a cease-fire, clearing the way for NATO to disarm the rebels and take steps to ensure an insurgency does not engulf this Balkan nation in war. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
