Press briefing on household registration reform

Guo Weimin:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning! Welcome to today's press conference.

Today, the State Council officially issued the "Opinions on Further Promotion of the Reform of Household Registration System". To help us better understand the current situation of Chinese household registration reform, we are honored to have eight officials here to give us a thorough introduction. They are: Huang Ming, vice minister of public security; Liu Limin, vice minister of education; Wang Bao'an, vice minister of finance; Yang Zhiming, vice minister of human resources and social security; Wang Pei'an, vice minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission; Li Pumin, secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission; Feng Jun, chief economic manager of housing and urban-rural development, and Zhao Yang, vice director of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group.

Now, let's give the floor to Mr. Huang Ming.

Huang Ming:

Dear friends from the press,

Good morning. Today, the "Opinions on Further Promotion of the Reform of Household Registration System" is officially published by the State Council. It is a framework document to guide the reform of household registration system and marks a turning point in reform to all-round implementation. It took more than a year to prepare this document. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council has paid close attention to the reform, the 18th CPC National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of 18th CPC Central Committee indicated the direction of the reform, and President Xi Jinping issued some important instructions and chaired a range of meetings on the issue. Premier Li Keqiang chaired a State Council executive meeting to deliberate on the "Opinions". Other central leaders also heard a number of reports, conducted field research, collected opinions from all sides including the views of migrant workers, and made requests for changes at the drafting stage.

Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the "Opinions" have been jointly drawn up by the Ministry of Public Security, the National Development and Reform Commission, Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, National Health and Family Planning Commission, National Bureau of Statistics and the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council. On the basis of in-depth research and extensive experience, these 13 departments carefully studied, collected opinions from residents across the country and carried out effective evaluation and data calculation. We have listened to the views of NPC deputies, CPPCC members, experts and scholars, as well as, especially, the migrant workers themselves. The State Council has held a range of symposia and coordination meetings to collect suggestions from different regions and departments. Thus, this document embodies the wisdom of the nation at large.

It clearly points out the guiding ideology, objectives, tasks, policies and measures and implementation path of the reform of the household registration system. It consists of five parts: adjusting the residence migration system, innovating population management measures, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of both migrant workers and permanent residents of the cities, and strengthening the aspects of organization and leadership.

According to the arrangement of the central government, the State Council will hold meetings in the near future in different regions and with various departments as part of the implementation process.

Thank you, friends from the press, for your attention to the Chinese household registration reform! Now, we are glad to answer your questions.