XI’AN–The 17th International Conference on Social Security, with the theme of “National Modernization and High-quality Development of Social Security,” took place in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, on August 26-27. Over 100 experts and scholars from more than 70 universities and research institutes in China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as international organizations such as the International Labor Organization and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation from Germany, participated in the conference. The main focus of the conference was to explore innovative ideas, channels, and mechanisms for fostering a positive relationship between social security and socioeconomic development in the face of global challenges.

Global challenges

In light of technological, economic, and demographic changes around the world, Zheng Gongcheng, chairman of the China Association of Social Security (CAOSS) and a professor from Renmin University of China (RUC), pinpointed six challenges facing social security worldwide. They include: accelerated population aging, the proliferation of flexible employment forms, an outdated social security system for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, more diverse values, looming regional imbalances and widening wealth gaps, and increasing uncertainties in the international environment as the world undergoes profound changes.

In response to this situation, Zheng emphasized the importance of more certainty, stability, fairness, and justice in social security to enhance people’s sense of fulfilment, security, and happiness. He further outlined four essential elements that a high-quality social security system should possess.

First, it should conform to the principles of fairness and justice, with institutional arrangements conducive to narrowing income and consumption gaps between individuals and promoting social equity. Second, the system should bring shared benefits through collaboration and encourage mutual aid. Third, the system should operate based on the rule of law and provide clear, stable, and secure expectations through mature, law-based institutional arrangements. Fourth, the system should continuously meet the growing needs of individuals for a better quality of life, promoting sustainable development.

Social security with Chinese features

As a developing nation with over one billion people, China has managed to efficiently establish a social security system that covers the entire population in less than two decades. It has achieved the ambitious goals of distributing pension funds among all elderly citizens and ensuring basic medical insurance for 95% of the population. Chinese people are now sharing the fruits of national development through an increasingly sound social security system.

The progress of China’s social security model reflects a shift in focus from crisis aid to risk prevention, on to rights and interests protection, embodying the evolution of how societies approach risk management from a simplistic model to a multidimensional one, as well as the innovation and development of policy tools for social security. According to Xi Heng, vice chairman of the CAOSS and a professor from Xi’an-based Northwest University (NWU), the core principle of the rights and interests protection model lies in the sharing of benefits, which is exemplified by Chinese social security.

China has successfully established the largest social security system in the world. Through the transition to a model characterized by responsibility and benefit sharing, the Chinese system is able to strike a balance between the social rights paradigm and the structural functions paradigm, contributing Chinese insights to global social security, Xi said.

The International Conference on Social Security was first conceived of in 2004. Inaugurated at RUC in 2005, it has since been held 16 times in China, Japan, and South Korea alternately. This year’s conference was co-hosted by the CAOSS, the Korean Association for Social Policy, the Japanese Association for Social Policy, and NWU.