Poverty alleviation and school disputes on agenda

Several ministry-level departments, including those responsible for poverty alleviation, education, healthcare and banking, have recently responded to issues of public concern.

Departments encouraged to buy agricultural goods

China released a plan on August 20 to encourage government departments to purchase agricultural products from poverty-stricken areas as part of targeted poverty alleviation efforts.

The plan, jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, and the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, said an integrated online sales platform for the display and trading of agricultural products from poor areas will be established before the end of October.

A list of suppliers of priority products from national-level poverty-stricken counties will be compiled and the first group of agricultural products from poor areas will be launched on the platform by the end of October, it said.

According to the plan, all departments with government procurement budgets should be making purchases through the online sales platform by next year.

Crackdown on disruptive school accident protests

Government departments must crack down on acts that disrupt school order and undermine the law-based settlement of disputes over school accidents, according to a guideline released on August 20.

Jointly issued by five departments, including the Ministry of Education, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Public Security, it said such acts, usually committed by students' families in disputes over school-related accidents, including attacking people, intentionally damaging public property, putting up banners on school grounds, blocking school gates and stalking school officials.

Deng Chuanhuai, director of the Ministry of Education's Department of Policies and Regulations, told a news conference such behavior had affected the quality of education and the education environment.

The guideline said that when schools are responsible for accidents, they should pay compensation to the victims in a timely manner according to the law, but no money should be paid to settle disputes until the responsibilities of different parties had been clarified.

Mechanism to ensure reasonable drug prices

The National Healthcare Security Administration will establish a long-term supervision mechanism to ensure the stable supply of clinical medicines at reasonable prices, an official said on Aug 22.

Chen Jinfu, deputy head of the administration, told a news conference the mechanism will feature measures including price monitoring, credit rating and legal punishment to make sure pharmaceutical firms set reasonable drug prices.

Data showed the prices of 70 percent of commonly used medicines were cheaper or unchanged since 2015, with the prices of cancer drugs and other expensive medicines dropping by an average of 18 percent.

But about 30 percent of commonly used medicines saw price rises, which Chen attributed to a lack of market adjustments and price hikes for raw materials.

He said unreasonable price hikes will be punished in accordance with relevant regulations and laws, and efforts will be made to further reform the drug procurement mechanism to maintain a fair, healthy and competitive market.

Plan aims to make China a world fintech leader

China will build a fundamental policy framework for technology-driven financial innovation by 2021 to promote the country as a world fintech leader, according to a plan released by the People's Bank of China on Aug 22.

It listed key development targets and tasks for fintech from this year to 2021, aiming to improve the quality of financial services, strengthen regulation of technology-driven innovations, and prevent systemic financial risks.

According to the plan, fintech will be the "new engine" for high-quality development of the country's financial industry.

The plan also requires the prevention of risks related to the application of new technology. Fintech should be used to curb and tackle cross-market and cross-regional financial risks, while at the same time enhancing cybersecurity and financial information protection.