Red Star News:

The launch of rural reform is the key to the rural revitalization strategy. According to the No. 1 central document for 2023, what new tasks and requirements have been pushed forward to advance rural reform, stimulate production factors and resources in rural areas, and spur internal creativity? Thank you. 

Wu Hongyao:

The No. 1 central document for 2023 mentioned two drivers: scientific and technological innovation and institutional innovation, i.e. reform. I will answer your question.

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the need to rely on reform to speed up building strong agriculture. The overall idea for deepening rural reform in the new era and on the new journey is to continue to handle the relationship between farmers and land properly. We must align strengthening the foundation of collective ownership, safeguarding and realizing the rights of farming collective members with activating resource elements to improve the separation of rights and interests over rural collective resources and assets. We need to ensure farmers can share more of the fruits of reform. In the No. 1 central document for 2023, we have made deployments and arrangements from three areas.

First, we will deepen reforms of the rural land system. We will mainly advance reform concerning rural contracted land, residential land, and collective land for development purposes. With regard to contracted land, we will steadily advance trials on extending the second round of rural land contracts for another 30 years upon expiration. We will gradually expand the scope of the pilot scheme, uphold the principle of maintaining overall stability and making minor adjustments to ensure the original contract rights of most farmers remain stable and are smoothly extended. In regions where conditions permit, we will explore resolving the fragmentation of farmland based on the premise of farmers' willingness. In terms of rural residential land, we will give priority to advancing trial reforms on rural land designated for housing in a steady and prudent fashion. Focusing on ensuring housing, controlling illegal construction, making use of idled land, and based on the work to determine, register, and certify both land and house rights, we will strengthen management and explore ways to achieve the separation of ownership, entitlement, and right to use of rural land designated for housing. Concerning rural collective land for development purposes, we will focus on advancing trials for marketing rural collective land for development purposes. We will establish effective regulatory mechanisms for distributing revenues from the appreciation in land values between the state, rural collective economic organizations, and farmers. 

Second, we will develop new collective economies in rural areas. We will continue to advance the reform of the rural collective property rights system and consolidate and expand its achievements. We will work to improve the operation mechanism, advancing the development of an operation mechanism with clear property rights, sound governance structures, steady ways of operation, and reasonable distribution of benefits. We will also explore diversified means to develop new collective economies in rural areas and promote various models, including the contract of resources, the rental of property, the intermediary services, and the share participation of assets. At the same time, we will improve the regulatory system for rural collective assets and fully protect collective members’ rights to know, participate, and supervise.

Third, we will promote integrated urban-rural development in counties. Counties connect urban and rural areas and serve as basic units of economic and social development. They have huge potential in helping expand domestic demands and foster a new development pattern. Over the years, we have seen that more and more people who have moved from rural to urban areas seek employment and start businesses in counties and gain permanent urban residency there. There are 910 million permanent urban residents in China, and nearly one-third of them live in the urban areas of counties and county-level cities. Based on that, we will take counties as a focal point and improve institutions and mechanisms, and policy systems for urban-rural integrated development to ensure the smooth flow of factors of production between urban and rural areas. We will coordinate the planning and development of urban and rural areas in counties; allocate public resources in counties, townships, and villages in an incremental manner; and continue to grant permanent urban residency to rural migrant workers in counties. With all these efforts, we will gradually break the barriers between urban and rural areas in counties and build counties as an important bond for industry-agriculture and urban-rural synergies. Thank you.

Tang Renjian:

Let me emphasize how Mr. Wu Hongyao’s answer just now and this year’s No. 1 central document both mention new collective economies in rural areas. New collective economies in rural areas have been talked about for many years, but it has not been stated explicitly what the new collective economy is and how to develop it. This time, we actually make clear the new collective economy that we will develop, which can be generalized into four aspects. That is the economy with an operation mechanism with clear property rights, sound governance structures, steady ways of operation, and reasonable distribution of benefits. How to develop the new collective economy in rural areas? There are also four aspects, including promoting various models, including the contract of resources, the rental of property, the intermediary services, and the share participation of assets. Therefore, I would like to make this point clear that answers have been provided concerning innate laws and pathways of development of the new collective economy in rural areas.