China wants farm lands out of brick and mortar plans
China stressed on Thursday that farmland had to be kept available for cultivation instead of being gobbled up by construction as China’s rapid development pushes further into the countryside.
By Agencies |
BEIJING: China stressed on Thursday that farmland had to be kept available for cultivation instead of being gobbled up by construction as China’s rapid development pushes further into the countryside.
In a front-page article in the People’s Daily newspaper, the Communist Party mouthpiece, said the State Council, China’s cabinet, had issued an announcement urging cities to stop using rural land for development.
“China has a large population and the supply of farming land is scarce. Now that we are undergoing industrialisation and fast urbanisation, there have appeared many contradictions in the supply and demand of land for construction,” the article said.
Farmers do not own their land in the countryside, and as China’s boom has spread into rural areas in recent decades, farmers have frequently lost use of the land to infrastructure and housing developments, with little or no compensation from officials keen to boost local economies and tax revenues.
Mass protests in China among rural poor have increased as a result. “To thoroughly preserve farming land and encourage the efficient and intensive use of land ... is a program of long-term importance to the Chinese people and country,” the article said.
Collective ownership of rural land is a founding principle of the Communist Party orchestrated a mass land redistribution from landlords whom they vilified.
The announcement is “another example of Beijing attempting to centralise public policy, much of it is aimed at local officials to try to get them to abide by central directives,” said Russell Leigh Moses, an analyst of Chinese politics based in Beijing.
“I see these new directives as less responsive to public outcry than simply reacting to actions taken by officials and farmers which could lead to outbreaks of unrest. And the emphasis is on efficiency in these statements, not equity or equality,” he said. Zheng Xinli, vice-minister of the Communist Party’s Central Policy Research Office, told a news conference recently that the farmers have the right to use the land and contract it out for 30 years.
In a front-page article in the People’s Daily newspaper, the Communist Party mouthpiece, said the State Council, China’s cabinet, had issued an announcement urging cities to stop using rural land for development.
“China has a large population and the supply of farming land is scarce. Now that we are undergoing industrialisation and fast urbanisation, there have appeared many contradictions in the supply and demand of land for construction,” the article said.
Farmers do not own their land in the countryside, and as China’s boom has spread into rural areas in recent decades, farmers have frequently lost use of the land to infrastructure and housing developments, with little or no compensation from officials keen to boost local economies and tax revenues.
Mass protests in China among rural poor have increased as a result. “To thoroughly preserve farming land and encourage the efficient and intensive use of land ... is a program of long-term importance to the Chinese people and country,” the article said.
Collective ownership of rural land is a founding principle of the Communist Party orchestrated a mass land redistribution from landlords whom they vilified.
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The announcement is “another example of Beijing attempting to centralise public policy, much of it is aimed at local officials to try to get them to abide by central directives,” said Russell Leigh Moses, an analyst of Chinese politics based in Beijing.
“I see these new directives as less responsive to public outcry than simply reacting to actions taken by officials and farmers which could lead to outbreaks of unrest. And the emphasis is on efficiency in these statements, not equity or equality,” he said. Zheng Xinli, vice-minister of the Communist Party’s Central Policy Research Office, told a news conference recently that the farmers have the right to use the land and contract it out for 30 years.
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