Wen Jiabao speaks up for land rights

‘Land-use and distribution rights are a collective benefit and the legal property granted to rural people by law. No one has the right to deprive them’: Wen Jiabao

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said the government must guard land rights of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers, a report said, just days after a bitter land row grabbed worldwide attention.
Championed as a leader of the common Chinese, Wen spoke of farmers’ rights even as memory of a drawn-out protest by the villagers of Wukan in southern China over illegal land grabs remained a fresh symbol of rising public anger.
“Land-use and distribution rights are a collective benefit and the legal property granted to rural people by law. No one has the right to deprive them,” Wen said at a government meeting in Beijing, according to Xinhua news agency.
Any failure in the coming year to protect land rights, he warned, could impact China’s development and social stability.
China must “dramatically increase the share of gains that goes to farmers”, Wen said.
Wen’s remarks come amid central government warnings of tough economic times ahead and as he and other top Communist Party leaders stress social stability in preparation for handing over the reins to their successors next year.
Ten days of unrest in Wukan, Guangdong province, over confiscated farmland and the death of a protest organiser became a symbol of rising public anger over a plethora of perceived injustices, from corruption to income disparities.
Wukan’s residents ended their stand-off with the local government after the deputy Communist party secretary for Guangdong called their complaints “reasonable” and said three detained protest leaders would be freed.
On Monday, Zhu Mingguo, a senior Communist official, said the protests resulted from local leaders’ failure to address the villagers’ complaints and consult them on land use decisions.
He compared the situation in Wukan to an apple that appears healthy but is “rotten to the core” and warned of further unrest in China if such problems were not addressed.