At a press conference hosted by the State Council Information Office, Dou Yupei, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, commented that medical and temporary relief are the least developed parts of China's social assistance programs.

In response, the Provisional Methods on Social Assistance stipulate that if seniors, minors, seriously handicapped persons or persons with fatal diseases are still in difficulty after receiving minimum living allowance, the government at county level or above should take the necessary measures to guarantee their living standard.

Social assistance guarantees the subsistence right of needy and unfortunate people as well as safeguarding social equity, said Zheng Gongcheng, a professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Currently, social assistance recipients account for 6-8 percent of China's population, yet government spending in the area is still low given the country's annual fiscal revenue of more than 10 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion), Zheng said.

Over the past 10 years, Zheng has been calling for legislation on social assistance. According to him, China cannot have a solid and effective social assistance system without a legal basis.

Though drafting of the law reportedly began in 2005, there has been no report on its progress to date, to Zheng's disappointment.

Fighting fraudulence

While some needy persons cannot receive minimum living allowances, some recognized recipients are not really in need.

In 2013, Xining City, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province, launched an inspection of the financial status of low-income families applying for or receiving minimum living allowances. The city's civil affairs bureau compared the income and asset information provided by relief applicants with relevant data kept by housing, taxation, social security, as well as other government departments.

As of the end of 2013, the city had double checked the information of 71,558 relief recipients in 29,209 households, and found that 1,990 recipients in 663 households, 2.26 percent of the total, were not actually eligible.

In June 2010, the National Audit Office revealed that 62,900 ineligible households in 194 counties and districts across the country received 330 million yuan ($52 million) in minimum living allowances, and about 18 percent of those households owned private businesses, vehicles or more than two apartments.

Chen Wuxi, a retired worker in Beijing's Mentougou District, had allegedly received more than 50,000 yuan ($8,260) in minimum living allowance given to him for eight years until he was accused of fraudulence by his step-brother in 2010. Chen was later discovered to be a multi-millionaire who had made a fortune from real estate investment. He owns several properties in Beijing.

An unnamed local official told Beijing-based Legal Weekend that the application materials Chen originally handed in showed that he was eligible. Although relevant regulations specify procedures to verify applicants' financial status through home visits and interviews with applicants' neighbors, the fraud Chen had committed on his application was not uncovered due to dereliction of duty by responsible officials.

After the fraud was unveiled, the local government ceased to issue a minimum living allowance to Chen.

Liu Xitang, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said that currently, civil affairs authorities does not have right to access some information relating to applicants for minimum living allowances and there are almost no legal provisions on penalties for applicants filing false information. Ultimately, civil affairs authorities can do little more than stop giving the allowance.

Gu Xi, a professor at the School of Government at Peking University, suggested that fraud of government assistance programs should be punished according to the Criminal Law.

To prevent fraud, the Provisional Methods on Social Assistance state that for those obtaining social assistance through fraudulent measures, relevant departments can terminate their allowance, order them to return any given money, and impose a penalty equaling up to three times of what had been fraudulently claimed. It also clarifies that social assistance applicants, recipients and administrators breaking the laws should shoulder corresponding criminal liabilities.

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China's Social Assistance System

In the 1950s, China established its "five guarantees" social relief system, which ensures proper food, clothing, medical care, housing and funeral expenses to seniors, disabled persons or minors under the age of 16, who have neither sources of income nor the ability to work, nor legal guardians, supporters or fosterers.

In 1999, the Regulations on Guaranteeing Urban Residents' Minimum Standard of Living went into effect, which stipulates that urban residents can receive subsistence assistance from the government if their families fail to reach the local income threshold for a minimum living allowance.

On August 1, 2003, the Measures for the Administration of Relief for Vagrants and Beggars Without Assured Living Sources in Cities were promulgated. According to it, vagrants and beggars who have no assured living sources in cities can receive temporary relief, including food, lodging, medical assistance, communications, transportation to their hometowns and escort.

In August 2007, the State Council released a regulation, deciding to provide minimum living allowance to eligible rural residents all over the country from that point on.

(Compiled by Beijing Review)