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Chinese Authorities Have Repeatedly Broken Promises Over Retirement Income Provision

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China's one-child policy, dictated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has resulted in an issue of lack of income provision for the elderly. The issue has become one of the most serious challenges for the government today. Recently, four CCP slogans on advocating birth control, and retirement income provision have been seen widely on the net. These slogans have proved that in over 30 years, the CCP has repeatedly broken its previous promises. The authorities have shirked their responsibilities toward the provision of retirement pensions. In 1980, China began to implement a birth control policy of "One child per family". The following are four slogans that were widely used by the CCP during the eighties. In the 1980s, the slogan was: "Birth control is good, the government will pay pensions." In the 1990s, it became: "Birth control is good, the government subsidizes pensions." In the 2000s, it was "Pensioners cannot live off the government." In 2012, "Postponing retirement is good, so as to be sure of earning your pension." (Independent commentator) Li Shanjian: "As time goes by, the truth will gradually be exposed to the public. The CCP's slogans have kept on changing. It just propagated irresponsibly, fooling the public with the illusion of a blissful future that beckoned." Yi Fuxian, China's expert in demography, suggested from studying census data, that China's members of the one-child generation have by now easily reached 218 million. The census data in 2000 showed that in this group, over 10 million would die before the age of 25. That means 20 million one-child parents would face childless lives. Over the years, China has seen low fertility, and a growing ageing problem. China's media has quoted Zhu Yong, deputy director of office of National Committee on Ageing. Zhu said that in 2013, the number of elderly in China will exceed 200 million, for the first time. The one-million annual growth in the ageing population will continue until 2025. (Expert in China issues) Gong Shengli: "What's the problem facing the elderly in China now? They face insufficient subsistence allowances to live by. The urban population has been covered in the public pension system. Whilst among the rural residents, only the richest can afford pension contributions. Now China's biggest problem is, that about half of the rural population face a life without pensions. Their lands have been seized, and their houses demolished." Li Shanjian says, China cannot now escape a disaster that is caused by the increase in numbers of elderly citizens. How have the CCP authorities dealt with this huge problem created by themselves? In August 2012, Wu Yushao, deputy director of the office of the National Committee on Ageing, said that the CCP shall partially, instead of fully, cover retirement pension provision. In April, Dai Xianglong, the Party chief of the National Council for the Social Security Fund, alleged that China's pension fund cannot make ends meet. Dai proposed rising the retirement age to 65, in order to delay taking pensions. A research report predicts that China's pension shortfall will reach 18.3 trillion yuan in 2013. China's full-year fiscal revenue is about 10 trillion yuan. In December 2012, an official report on the pension fund stated that in 2011, a total shortfall of personal pension accounts hit 2.2 trillion yuan.