The direction of rural collective property rights system reform is to return rights and expand capacity

On December 14, the 2014 New Urbanization Construction and National Suburban Economy Annual Conference, as well as the 2014 Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform and Beijing Suburban Economy Annual Conference, were held in Beijing. The main topics of the conference were: land issues in new urbanization, new exploration cases of rural collective property rights system reform, and the theory and practice of rural “three plots of land and one property” reform. Yin Chengjie, former Executive Vice Minister of Agriculture and advisor to the China Suburban Economy Research Association, and Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group, delivered keynote speeches.

In his speech, Yin Chengjie stated that China's economy has now entered a new normal, and urbanization has entered a stage of rapid development, but it still faces many prominent problems. He pointed out that new urbanization must adhere to “people-oriented, synchronized four modernizations, optimized layout, ecological civilization, cultural inheritance and market orientation.” It is necessary to start with reform to solve the land problems in new urbanization. Grasp the principle of “strictly controlling the total amount, adjusting and optimizing the structure,” deepen the reform of the land management system, establish a regulatory mechanism for the scale and structure of urban land use, and improve and perfect the system of economical land use. Deepen the reform of the rural land management system, accelerate the confirmation of land rights, and on the basis of the strictest farmland protection system, promote the separation of the three rights and advance the reform of the land expropriation system.

In his speech, Han Jun stated that the reform of the rural collective property rights system concerns the vital interests of farmers and the future direction of the basic rural operating system. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party, rural reform has continuously accelerated on the basis of grasping the direction, and various reform systems have been formulated and introduced at a rapid pace. He believes that to better guide the reform of the collective property rights system, it is necessary to further clarify the subject of collective land property rights from the perspective of membership rights, to further confirm rights, expand capacity and return rights to the people on the basis of respecting the wishes of farmers, and to further promote the separation of politics and economy and cautiously explore the linkage mechanism between the rural collective property rights system and the market.

The representatives attending the meeting believed that strengthening the operation and management of rural collective “three plots of land and one property” is an important fulcrum for protecting and realizing farmers' rights and interests in the process of urbanization. Since the reform and opening up, with the rapid advancement of urbanization, suburban rural areas have taken the lead in trials in collective property rights system reform, collective land entering the market, and collective asset management, achieving many breakthroughs and forming a large amount of practical experience in reform. However, in the context of comprehensively deepening reform, new urbanization and the rule of law, the reform of the suburban rural collective property rights system and the effective operation and management of “three plots of land and one property” still have a long way to go. It is necessary to explore effective ways to realize the rural collective economy through deepening reform and safeguard farmers' rights and interests. The reform of the collective property rights system should focus on studying and solving problems such as the ownership of rural collective property rights, the definition of collective membership rights, the operation mechanism of collective assets, and the improvement of the corporate governance structure at the grassroots level. In the process of new urbanization, the reform of establishing a unified urban-rural construction land market should step up preparatory work for amending relevant laws, study and establish a land property rights system under the condition of shared ownership, and accelerate related supporting reforms such as fiscal, household registration, and government function transformation.

Relevant leaders from the National People's Congress, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other units attended the meeting and spoke. More than 200 expert and scholar representatives engaged in practical and theoretical research on suburban economy from developed areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong attended the meeting. Xu Xiaoqing, President of the China Suburban Economy Research Association and former Director of the Rural Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, presided over the meeting and made a summary.