Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform Calls for Theoretical and Practical Innovation

The Symposium on Research into the Reform of the Rural Collective Property Rights System, hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council, was held today in Beijing. Li Wei, Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Chen Xiwen, Deputy Head and Director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, gave a keynote speech. Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, delivered the meeting summary. Chen Xiaohua, Vice Minister of Agriculture, and others attended the symposium and spoke. Zhang Junkuo, Vice Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, presided over the opening ceremony.

Liu Zhenwei, Vice Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, Hu Cunzhi, Vice Minister of Land and Resources, Zhang Jianlong, Deputy Director of the State Forestry Administration, Long Guoqiang, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the General Office of the Development Research Center of the State Council, Wang Liming, Executive Vice President of Renmin University of China, and other responsible comrades from relevant central departments, responsible comrades from development research centers, agriculture departments, and rural work offices of various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, representatives from typical areas of rural collective property rights system reform, and experts and scholars in the fields of economics and law participated in this meeting.

In his speech, Li Wei stated that since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made the decision to comprehensively deepen reform, from the central level to the local level, and from Party and government departments to academia, all have been deeply planning reform measures and actively discussing reform topics. The Development Research Center of the State Council, as an important think tank directly serving central decision-making, is an active participant in and important promoter of reform. According to arrangements by relevant parties, the Development Research Center of the State Council has undertaken research on some major reform topics and third-party evaluation tasks for some reform plans, and has directly participated in the formulation of plans for some reform tasks. Among these, rural reform is one of the most important components. The Development Research Center of the State Council conducted special research on the overall approach to rural land system reform, adherence to collective ownership of rural land, and the establishment of a rural property rights transfer and trading market, and participated in research on plans such as granting farmers share rights to collective assets and the comprehensive reform of supply and marketing cooperatives. In the future, it will continue to deepen research on the reform of the rural collective property rights system.

In his keynote speech, Chen Xiwen stated that to advance the reform of the rural collective property rights system, in-depth theoretical research is needed, but it is even more necessary to listen to the voices of farmers, summarize farmers' practices, and explore why farmers want to do this. He believes that to better guide the reform of the collective economic property rights system, in-depth theoretical, institutional, and policy research is needed on 10 aspects, including the basic characteristics of the organizational form of the rural collective economic system, the purpose of the reform of the rural collective property rights system, the form of asset operation after the reform of the rural collective property rights system, and the definition of members of rural collective economic organizations.

In his summary speech, Han Jun stated that this meeting was a very important meeting held at a critical period of comprehensively deepening rural reform, and that it has an important role and significance in deepening theoretical understanding of some major issues, guiding the next pilot reform of the rural collective property rights system, and further improving the relevant legal and regulatory system. At present, relative to practical innovation, theoretical research and legal construction for the reform of the rural collective property rights system appear lagging. In-depth discussion of the deep issues involved in the reform of the rural collective property rights system at the theoretical, legal, and policy levels can provide theoretical support for doing a good job in the top-level design of the reform of the rural collective property rights system and the construction of the rule of law. He believes that the topics discussed at this meeting, including 12 aspects such as the scope of collective property rights system reform, how to define collective property rights and membership rights, and the organizational form of collective property rights system reform, are greatly beneficial for advancing and grasping the direction of the reform of the rural collective property rights system in the future.

During the one-day discussion, the participating representatives held that rural collective ownership is an important component of the public ownership economy and an important institutional foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Establishing a rural collective property rights system that meets the requirements of the socialist market economy system is an important part of improving and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. Since reform and opening up, many breakthroughs have been made in the reform of the rural collective property rights system, but this reform has not yet been completed. Only by deepening reform and finding more effective forms of realization can rural collective ownership stand firm and go far. The fundamental direction of advancing the reform of the rural collective property rights system is to explore more effective forms of realization of collective ownership and the collective economy under the conditions of the socialist market economy, and to further liberate and develop rural productive forces. To this end, it is necessary to focus on studying and solving issues such as the attribution of the subject of rural collective property rights, the confirmation and empowerment of collective assets, the definition of collective membership rights, the operating mechanism of the rural collective economy, and the legal person status of rural collective economic organizations. Advancing the reform of the rural collective property rights system, especially advancing the reform of the rural land system, requires both emancipating the mind and bold exploration, as well as upholding bottom lines such as collective ownership, protection of farmers' interests, and having a legal basis.