Beijing Radio & Television Station:

Caring for and respecting veterans is the shared responsibility of the whole society, and easing their difficulties is also a key task. What kind of work has been carried out to care for veterans in difficulty? What are the relevant arrangements going forward? Thank you.

Ma Feixiong:

Thank you for your questions. I will have Mr. Liang Jingge take your question.

Liang Jingge:

When it comes to people's livelihoods, every little detail matters. Among all the veterans, there are a few who do have difficulty in work and life due to various reasons. Since the establishment of the MVA, we have acted with firm resolve to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on caring for veterans, and established a support and assistance work system for veterans in difficulties that is led by the MVA with proactive cooperation from relevant functional departments and public participation.

The first is to develop a clear picture of the number of veterans in difficulty to implement targeted assistance and relief. Together with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, we drew back the veil on the number of veterans in difficulty across the country, and created the assistance service system to implement dynamic management and targeted assistance. At important points throughout the year, we will pay visits to veterans to see what they need. Over the past four years, a total of 6.5 billion yuan has been invested into our work, and more than 31 million veterans have been visited and helped.

The second is to strengthen top-level design and improve our policy and regulation system. We have released documents on assisting veterans, ensuring their basic livelihood and judicial assistance together with the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, to leverage relevant departments' functional advantages and open up a "green lane" to address veterans' needs. So far, we have issued nearly 41 million yuan in judicial assistance funding for veterans, service members and their families.

The third is to create strong synergy and support to further step up social participation. We cooperated with relevant social organizations to launch public interest activities under the theme of "Warming Veterans with Care and Help," in which we have invested more than 30 million yuan and carried out activities to address veterans' urgent needs including their elderly health care and the issues of schooling and medical assistance for their children, which have produced positive social effects. We also guided 20 provinces to set up care funds (associations) for veterans, and a total of 9 billion yuan has been collected.

Next, we will continue to carry out the special action of "Warming Veterans and Addressing Their Urgent Needs" together with the China Charity Federation and other units, so as to benefit more veterans in difficulty. We will continue to improve the assistance service system, provide care through routine visits and guide social organizations to play an active role in order to effectively build a tightly woven system to meet veterans' basic needs. Thank you.