A proposal that would stem the tide of migrant workers flooding
into?Beijing has been dubbed "discrimination" at an ongoing
meeting in Beijing.
Objectors say moving the goalposts to stop so many coming in
would be discrimination.
A proposal to set up an admittance system to control the inflow
better was put forward by Zhang Weiying, a member of the 10th
Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at the ongoing third session of
the committee.
Zhang is also a professor with Beijing-based Renmin University
of China.
"Groups of poorly organized migrant workers flowing into the
city, half of whom have no stable income or dwelling, pose great
potential harm to Beijing," Zhang said.
"The city should set out clearly what professionals it needs in
which occupations before inflow starts.
"The city is over-burdened already in trying to balance its
population and limited resources." She said the "exhausted city"
would find it hard to maintain its planned pace of development
under such huge population pressures.
Zhang said she first noticed the significance of the issue eight
years ago, but thought the problem could be solved by economic
means.
"But things are different now. The problem has become more
urgent," she said.
But committee member Wan Jianzhong criticized the proposal as an
"overbearing policy."
Wan, also a professor at Beijing Normal University, said the
population flow reflects the improvement in people's living
standards.
He said a fluid population was necessary to keep development
balanced between different cities.
Zhang Shouquan, also a member of the committee, said the local
government should use economic and legal means rather than
administrative orders to curb the city's population expansion.
Local population
He said slowing down local population growth was a must for
Beijing as the city's limited natural resources such as water and
natural gas could not bear too many people.
"But as the capital city of China, Beijing is very attractive to
many non-natives who want to seek job opportunities or better lives
here. At the same time, migrants have contributed a lot to
Beijing's economic and social development and Beijing still needs
more workers to fuel its progression towards becoming an
international metropolis," said Zhang.
"It's a very complicated issue to keep the city's population in
line with the capacity of its resources, involving land, energy and
water. It cannot be solved in a short time and administrative
orders to restrict the inflow don't work. On the contrary, these
orders may stir nationwide objections."
Under a new city plan for 2004-20, Beijing will try and keep its
population under 18 million.
"Actually, the figure of 18 million is probably the ceiling for
the capability of the city if it wants to build itself into a
comfortable place to live in. But if the city's population grows at
the current 2.2 percent a year, the number of residents in Beijing
will top 21 million by 2020."
(China Daily January 26, 2005)