A senior Chinese official promised yesterday to crack down the seizing of farmland for redevelopment that is fueling unrest, saying as many as 1 million Chinese farmers lose their land each year and admitting they are paid too little for it.
Every year, commercial development eats up over 266,666 hectares of farmland, causing perhaps 1 million Chinese farmers to lose their land, Vice Minister of Agriculture Yin Chengjie (尹成杰) said.
"In building a new countryside, one of the most important issues is protecting rural resources, especially farmland, and we must implement the strictest farmland protection system," he told a news briefing during China's national parliament, which has focused on its struggling countryside.
In recent years, Chinese villages have often erupted in protest against land grabs by officials, especially around expanding cities. And some officials have said the country has been losing even more farmland than Yin estimated.
In 2004, the Ministry of Land and Resources said China had lost 6.7 million hectares of arable land -- 5 percent of the country's total -- in the previous seven years to tree planting, ecological deterioration and commercial development.
Yin said farmers who lose land must be given jobs and adequate compensation, and he promised reforms to China's land system, which the government acknowledges has encouraged abuses.
Yin said that the government was considering stifling official profiteering by increasing compensation for land taken for public purposes, such as roads, and demanding that land is sold for commercial development "through market mechanisms." But he did not explain what specific reforms the government had in mind.
Also yesterday, plans were unveiled for a massive reshuffle of local politicians, linking promotion to how well they adhere to the central leadership's bid to address social imbalances, an official newspaper said.
The moves may affect more than 100,000 officials in township, county, city and provincial posts ahead of a party congress next year that is likely to seal changes in the country's ruling circle under President Hu Jintao (
"The criteria for promotion will not only look to GDP growth and other political achievements, it will also look to the level of popular satisfaction with their administration," the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece, said.
It said the decisions about promotions and demotions would apply the "scientific outlook on development" -- the party's catchphrase for balanced economic and social growth that places fresh emphasis on social equality, especially for China's poor farmers.
"The goal is to properly select appropriate officials to provide an organizational guarantee for China's future development," the daily said.
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