Over half a million people from the nation's ethnic minorities
are to benefit from increased funding and training, central
government said yesterday.
Officials from the ethnic affairs ministry said that around
630,000 people from 22 ethnic minority groups will benefit from
additional financial aid, though the total amount was undisclosed,
and employment training schemes made available.
According to the government, one out of four people in these 22
groups do not have enough food and clothing, and senior officials
said one of the goals of the new program was to rectify this.
Lan Bujin, an official from the State Ethnic Affairs
Commission's Economic Department, said investment would be
"increased by a large margin."
The announcement comes after a six-year development programme
(2005-10) was established last week by the State Council targeting
ethnic minority groups with fewer than 100,000 people.
"We are now working with other central government departments,
such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communications and
state-owned banks, to decide the investment scale in regions
inhabited by these groups," said Lan.
Li Wenliang, spokesperson of the commission, said the program
was needed because the recipients live in "remote areas where
natural conditions are harsh and the social development level is
low."
The 22 minorities are: Maonan, Salar, Blang, Tajik, Achang,
Pumi, Ewenki, Nu, Jing, Jino, De'ang, Baoan, Russian, Yugur, Uzbek,
Monba, Oroqen, Drung, Tatar, Hezhe, Gaoshan and Lhoba.
They live in 640 villages in 10 provinces and autonomous regions
including Inner
Mongolia, Tibet,
Heilongjiang, Yunnan and Xinjiang, Li said. Sixteen of the
minorities are located along frontier areas.
China has 56 recognized ethnic groups, of which Han is the
largest, accounting for 93.3 percent of the country's 1.3 billion
people.
During 2002-04, central government allocated 117 million yuan
(US$14 million) to develop local infrastructure as well as improve
education and health conditions in these regions, Li said.
"The investment in the next five years will be much more than
this figure," said?Lan, noting that priority will be given to
developing infrastructure, such as roads, water and power
facilities.
Local people are also expected to benefit from the increased
investment by learning skills to improve production and getting
more access to education and public health services, Lan said.
Liang Dachao, secretary-general of the Association for
Underdeveloped Regions in China, said yesterday that the help
extended to these groups helps China in striving to build a
"harmonious society."
His association, with hundreds of companies as its members, is
encouraging more enterprises to invest in areas inhabited by ethnic
minorities.
(China Daily May 24, 2005)