Experts shed light on China’s social security system at a recent seminar, exchanging ideas on improving the social assistance system and advancing the reform of the pension insurance system.

The conference, which is the sixth seminar on national social security organized by the China Association of Social Security (CAOSS), took place in Beijing.

There are five major concerns regarding the improvement of the social security system, said Hua Jianmin, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress. First of all, we need to understand the relationship between modernization and the social security system. Second, it is necessary to clarify the function and positioning of social security. The third is to handle the relationship between social security and economic development. The fourth is to fully explore traditional cultural elements in the theoretical system of social security with Chinese characteristics. The fifth is to strengthen the construction of emergency management mechanisms in the social security system.

Through reforms, on the whole we have made remarkable achievements in the transformation of China’s social security system, though we also face a series of problems and challenges, said Zhang Meiying, vice chairwoman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. A modern social security system must proceed from the national conditions, establish fairer values, and innovate with mechanisms and systems, so that social security can truly benefit those ordinary people who need it most.CAOSS President Zheng Gongcheng said that China is at a critical stage in completing the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in poverty alleviation. As such, it is necessary to help China’s social security system progress from a long period of trial reform and development to a new stage featuring fundamental maturity as soon as possible.

Social assistance is an important part of the social security system. Tang Chengpei, vice minister of civil affairs, said that academic circles should base themselves on national conditions while also referring to the rest of the world, and they should thoroughly explore major theories, policies and legislative projects in the comprehensive deepening of the reform of the security system. As such, major issues such as the reform and development of elderly care services, child welfare and philanthropy will be well explained and answered theoretically, resulting in high-quality research.

In recent years, China’s pension insurance system has made significant progress. In the new era, deepening reforms and facilitating a fairer, more sustainable and more efficient pension insurance system are the inherent requirements for the establishment of a modern social security system.

Zheng Wei, a professor from Peking University, said that public pensions are closely related to residents’ retirement savings, but whether increasing access to public pensions can increase residents’ retirement savings is a question that calls for further study. Currently, the increase in public pensions has not directly led to an increase in the total amount of retirement savings, which is also affected by such factors as the macro system, market environment and individual differences. As such, all these relevant factors should be taken into account when trying to increase public pensions. Zhang also suggested designing a sturdy system and consolidating the foundation of the market economy.

Building an integrated social security public service platform at the national level is the main direction for reforming the pension insurance management system, said Hu Xiaoyi, chairman of the China Social Insurance Association. In the future, the reform of the pension insurance system should take the opportunity of national overall planning to break through the institutional bottleneck of hierarchical management. With central decision-making as the driving force, the reform of the local social security system will be driven from top to bottom.

Hu also suggested accelerating the construction of an integrated social security service network and comprehensively improving management efficiency with the help of high-level informatization.