Chinese Premier stresses 'safety net' for needy

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has ordered that a "safety net" for needy people be built to ensure their access to timely social assistance.

In a written instruction to a national meeting on the implementation of a new regulation on social assistance held on Tuesday, Li said, "Social aid concerns the basic living of people with difficulties and social justice."

It is a basic system that "guards the bottom line of a society, offers emergency aid, and ensures people's livelihood," Li said, calling for efforts to sweep "blind spots" in the system.

The premier asked for more input, an improved mechanism and active participation to ensure the social assistance system play its due part.

Addressing the same meeting, State Councilor Wang Yong called on the government to buy more services from non-governmental entities and innovate ways to offer services.

The regulation on social assistance, which will come into effect on May 1, is China's first legal document to coordinate and regulate a fragmentary social assistance system.