Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Kanglu County, has seen town and village officials stop farmers from planting crops and demand money for farming. The officials were reported saying, “If higher-ups tell me to collect money, then I will.” After the incident was exposed, the authorities dealt with the related officials. Experts believe that behind this incident lies the lack of rule of law in the Chinese Communist Party and the financial difficulties faced by local governments, leading to frequent chaos at the grassroots level.
On April 22, according to the official media “China’s Three Rural Issues,” some farmers in Kanglu County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, were being prevented from farming in spring by town and village officials. They were also required to pay money before planting crops.
Local officials explained that if a farmer converts the contracted wasteland into irrigated land, they must pay an additional “irrigated land fee.”
It is reported that recent payment notices received by local farmers state an additional payment of 200 yuan per mu of land annually. Failure to pay within the deadline will result in the termination of the original contract, with the land being reclaimed and re-allocated by the village committee.
One farmer in the county stated that based on this payment standard, he would have to pay millions of yuan each year. He mentioned that currently, their funds are spent on seeds, fertilizers, and other farming materials, and “we cannot afford to suddenly pay a million yuan.”
Local farmers also mentioned that they had already paid off the contract fees two years ago, and this recent fee collection is unjustified. According to the contract provided by the farmers, the land contract period is 30 years starting from March 20, 2004. The contract fees were fully settled batch by batch by 2022.
A video in the report shows a deputy director of Shuangsheng Village Committee in Jianhua Town, Kanglu County, blocking a farmer and saying, “If higher-ups tell me to collect money, then I will.”
A village cadre yelled at the farmer, “If I don’t bring in 200 people (to deal with you) tomorrow, my name isn’t [what it is now]!”
Officials in the town forcefully seized vehicles when preventing people from farming. The police verbally summoned and physically pushed the driver of a farming machine into a police car, causing chaos. Jiyunhao, the deputy secretary of the town party committee and the political and legal affairs commissioner, stated, “Don’t look for me, I don’t understand the law!”
After the exposure of the chaotic situation, the Kanglu County official media announced on the 22nd that they would investigate the issue of “farmers having to pay before planting crops.”
However, local village officials and the town government are deflecting responsibility back and forth. The village secretary responded by stating that this policy was issued by the town government, and farmers must pay; otherwise, the contract will be terminated. But the town mayor denied this, claiming it was a “village matter” that the “town can’t manage.”
On April 23, Yang Hua, the village support secretary of Shuangsheng Village, Jianhua Town, Kanglu County, responded that farmers had to pay before planting crops because “the county ordered the collection of money.” He also mentioned that because the village officials “lack education,” there are undoubtedly some flaws in their speech.
On the 23rd, Kanglu County announced that the payment for the use of newly cultivated land in Shuangsheng Village was one of the methods adopted for the “efficient utilization of newly cultivated land pilot project in Kanglu County,” where the village collective would charge for the use of the new land. The deputy secretary of the town party committee was subsequently removed from office and received a party warning; the village party branch secretary and the deputy director of the village committee were severely warned within the party. However, netizens questioned whether they were just scapegoats.
Mainland lawyer Yang Sheng stated on April 24 to Epoch Times that a video related to this incident has recently circulated widely in China, possibly because it involves lower levels, and the authorities don’t find it too sensitive to suppress it.
He believes that these are all lands for which ordinary people have signed contracts for decades, and the authorities do not intend to abide by the contracts. “Local grassroots governments want to raise fees, using this as an opportunity to collect money. This is clearly illegal and unreasonable.”
Yang Sheng believes that local officials may be under financial constraints, trying every means to squeeze the ordinary people to make up for the lack of financial expenditure. “This reflects the rogue nature of communist party officials, they have always been arrogant towards ordinary people. Without the rule of law in the CCP, these officials lack protection from above or orders, so they dare to be so brazen.”
David Huang, an economic scholar in the United States, stated on April 24 to Epoch Times that due to local financial difficulties, a so-called water resource occupancy fee was newly introduced in the area. He estimates that this additional fee does not have central government documentation yet; it is a local government initiative, called non-tax revenue.
“We can see that this year, non-tax revenue in China has accounted for almost 20% of fiscal revenue, and the newly added non-tax revenue has hit a historical high. This should fall under a category of non-tax revenue, also reflecting that local governments are taking additional self-imposed measures to increase revenue to make up for the shortfall in fiscal income.”
Huang said that ultimately, it is the financial difficulties faced by local governments, and the primary reason for the difficulty is that in the past, local governments were extravagant when fiscal income was relatively generous. When income decreases, the burden of the capital expenditure becomes evident, prompting local governments to find ways to increase revenue.
Lai Rongwei, Executive Director of the Taiwan Inspirational Association and adjunct assistant professor at a university, stated to Epoch Times that the “Three Rural Issues” has always been the most challenging problem for the Chinese Communist Party in urban and rural construction. Almost every year, the first policy document emphasizes the “Three Rural Issues,” highlighting that “farmers are truly suffering, rural areas are truly poor, and agriculture is truly dangerous.”
He believes that Xi Jinping has completely failed to solve the “Three Rural Issues,” and now the overall economy in China is declining, and rural debts have become very severe. There is not enough money to allocate to grassroots authorities, and the tasks for rural officials are increasing.
“Local village officials are oppressive firstly because they lack money, secondly because they have too many tasks to handle, and they need to climb the ladder and show some performance, which leads to rough treatment of farmers. This also highlights that farmers are being exploited and sacrificed.”
Lai Rongwei stated that in the future, the dissatisfaction of Chinese farmers will rise, ultimately leading to the overthrow of the Communist Party.