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China promises aid to jobless
BEIJING, China (AP) -- China's labor minister promised Tuesday to extend the government's social safety net to tens of millions more jobless and poor people amid wrenching change that communist leaders fear could fuel unrest. Labor Minister Zhang Zuoji was speaking during the annual meeting of China's legislature, which has stressed help for the poor as the key goal for new national leaders who are to be installed this weekend. China's leaders worry that mounting anger at millions of job cuts by state industry and a gulf between people who have benefited from two decades of economic reform and the country's poor majority could erode acceptance of communist rule. Warning that China "faces a grim situation in unemployment," Zhang said Beijing plans to spend more on pensions, medical insurance, unemployment benefits and social-welfare payments to the urban poor. Pensions for the elderly that now cover 100 million people will be expanded to reach 150 million, while the number covered by medical insurance will double to 100 million, he said. "We have failed to cover all the people who should be covered," Zhang said at a news conference. In a system where urban workers used to rely on their employers for everything from housing to schools, tens of millions of Chinese have lost access to such services as state companies were forced to close or slash their workforces. The failure to pay pensions or severance benefits have led to protests by laid-off workers in areas throughout China. China's northeast, a center for communist-era heavy industry, has been especially hard-hit by job losses. On Wednesday, a man who said he had a bomb and described himself as an unemployed steel worker from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang held employees of the Reuters news agency in its bureau in Beijing, saying he wanted to publicize corruption. The employees were later released unharmed and the man surrendered to police, who said he appeared to be mentally ill and that his bomb was fake. (Bomb threat) 'Extreme measures'Asked about the incident, Zhang noted the "unprecedented" scale of job losses in China. "Against such a backdrop, I think it is nothing strange that an individual would resort to extreme measures to bring his problems to the attention of higher officials," the minister said. Employees laid off by a textile factory protested this week in Jiamusi, a city in Heilongjiang. They were complaining that local officials failed to meet their demands for unemployment benefits, and on Wednesday threatened more protests. Despite the promises of new spending, the programs outlined by Zhang will cover only a small portion of China's 1.3 billion people. Zhang said the government still can't afford to extend most social welfare programs to the countryside, where most people live. But he said the government was making "great progress" with experimental programs that combine unemployment insurance with payments meant to guarantee minimum living standards for the poor. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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