01/31/2007, 00.00
CHINA
Send to a friend

Land seizures main cause of social unrest

According to the deputy minister in the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, more than 50 per cent of rural protests are due to land seizures by local officials. Privatization of land is however excluded.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Chinese authorities admit that disputes over seizures of land by local authorities were the main cause of rural unrest. But an official in charge of rural policies yesterday ruled out any possibility that land would be privatised.

Chen Xiwen, a deputy minister in the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, said in a press conference yesterday that land disputes accounted for half of the rural unrest in China last year. Misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds and assets by grass-roots cadres accounted for about 30 per cent of cases, with the remaining 20 per cent involving protests against environmental pollution.

Mr Chen said never the less that rural unrest had dropped significantly last year and tension between farmers and local cadres had eased after the scrapping of the agricultural tax and the granting of direct subsidies to farmers. He declined to specify the number of incidents of rural unrest.

Deputy Minister of Social Security Liu Jinguo told a national conference on public order earlier this month that incidents of social unrest had dropped by 16.5 per cent last year. In 2005 the number stood at 87,000.

In his briefing, Mr Chen said privatising rural land was not an option; in his words: “we don't see any prospect at all in China for the time being. And this is not decided by the policies of the party or the government because the constitution of our country stipulates that there is no privatisation in China's land policies."

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
For Fr Tom, abducted in Yemen, Holy Thursday prayer and adoration for the martyrs
21/03/2016 14:57
Church leads the way in helping Vietnam cope with its educational emergency
11/03/2016 17:00
Catholic music to promote dialogue in Ambon, the city of sectarian violence
17/10/2018 13:29
"We are optimistic," says Paul Bhatti as Rimsha Masih's bail hearing postponed to Friday
03/09/2012
Pope talks about the Middle East, the Holy Land and the food crisis with Bush
13/06/2008


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”