Zheng Jianbang, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), led a team to Southwest China's Sichuan province from June 12 to 15 to inspect the enforcement of the Social Insurance Law.

The team visited the cities of Yibin, Luzhou and Chengdu, learning about whether the law had been duly implemented in State-owned enterprises, private enterprises and hospitals in accordance with its provisions, listened to a report by relevant departments and conducted random checks.

The team pointed out that Sichuan attaches great importance to the work of social insurance and the implementation of the Social Insurance Law, acknowledging its efforts in preliminarily establishing a multi-tiered social security system that covers the entire population, coordinates urban and rural areas, ensures fairness and uniformity, and promotes sustainable development.

Noting that social security is vital to people's well-being and the country's long-term stability, Zheng said that the enforcement of the Social Insurance Law is an essential requirement to implement major decisions and plans of the Party and the State, an embodiment of the people-centered principle and an important measure to strengthen the safety net of social security.

He stressed the importance of taking problem-oriented approaches in promoting comprehensive implementation of the law, expanding coverage of social insurance, promoting the sustainability of social security funds, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing comprehensive supervision of social insurance.

Zheng also emphasized the importance of legal compliance in consolidating the achievements of major reforms in social insurance and promoting the healthy development of the sector, and highlighted the need to enhance the rule of law and strengthen the legal system to advance law-based development of social insurance.

He said that the revision to Social Insurance Law has been included in the legislative plan of the 14th NPC Standing Committee and portrayed this inspection as an opportunity to identify key issues and challenges in the implementation of the law, gather opinions from various stakeholders, conduct in-depth research on relevant issues, prepare policy reserves, and enhance the role of law in guiding and supporting the social insurance sector.

Endeavors should also be made to formulate supporting laws and regulations at ministerial and sub-national levels and enhance legal education and publicity to make everyone a participant in and beneficiary of social security, he added.