President Hu Jintao called on Saturday for improved social management and innovations to “ensure a harmonious and stable society full of vitality”.
“The overall aim of enhancing and innovating social management is to stimulate vitality in society to the greatest extent, maximize factors conducive to harmony and minimize those detrimental to it,” said Hu at the opening ceremony of a high-profile seminar attended by provincial and ministerial-level officials.
At the event, which was held at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, Hu also stressed the need to “build a socialist social management system with Chinese characteristics to safeguard people’s rights and interests, promote social justice and sustain sound social order”.
The mechanism will help “solve prominent problems that might harm the harmony and stability of society”, he said.
Hu acknowledged that, despite China’s remarkable social and economic development and the growth of its overall national strength, the country is “still at a stage where many conflicts are likely to arise”. He said: “There are still many problems in social management.”
With a population of 1.3 billion people, China is experiencing rapid economic and social development, he said, which poses a number of “prominent problems that could cause unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development”.
“It is necessary to strengthen and improve a mechanism for safeguarding the rights and interests of the people,” said Hu, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
By doing so, a correct and effective mechanism will be formed to coordinate various interests, let people express their concerns, ensure they have solutions to their disputes and that people’s rights and interests are safeguarded, he said.
“Unhealthy practices that could harm people’s rights and interests must be corrected resolutely,” he said.
It is imperative to further boost and improve management and services for the migrant population and other special groups by building a national database of basic information about the country’s population, he noted. In addition, the country should improve its grassroots social services and strengthen the public security mechanism to ensure the safety of food and drugs, advance work-related safety, enhance social order and raise emergency response capabilities.
Other major tasks listed by Hu include enhancing the CPC’s leading role and the government’s social management functions and allocating more personnel, funds and materials to grassroots organizations to improve their service quality.
Hu stressed the importance of information network management and urged the improved management of the “virtual society” as well as better guidance of public opinions on the Internet.
Senior official Zhou Yongkang on Sunday reiterated the necessity to improve and innovate social management so as to “ensure the country’s long-term peace and stability”.
Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee’s Political Bureau, urged efforts to take into account public concerns.
Zhu Lijia, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said social management is crucial to transforming China’s development model.
“With the government’s effective social management, problems such as the enlarging income gap, corruption and other growing conflicts in society can be solved,” Zhu said.
Shen Ronghua, a researcher at the Chinese Public Administration Society, said social management is a key task.
“The public’s active involvement will create a good environment for the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015),” said Shen.
Xinhua – China Daily