Recently, the Chinese National People’s Congress voted to approve a decision to delay the statutory retirement age, sparking widespread public discontent. Retired professor Qin Hui from Tsinghua University in Beijing harshly criticized the authorities for extending their unlimited power, causing harm through the implementation of the former one-child policy, and now shifting blame for elderly care responsibilities.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party announced on September 13th the implementation of a “progressive delay in the statutory retirement age.” Starting from January 1, 2025, the retirement age for male workers will gradually increase from the current 60 years to 63 years, and for female workers and female cadres, from 50 and 55 years to 55 and 58 years respectively. Starting from January 1, 2030, the minimum years of contributions required to receive a pension will increase annually by 6 months, until it reaches 20 years from the current 15. If individuals reach retirement age but do not meet the contribution years required, they will need to extend or make a one-time payment to qualify for basic pension benefits.
In a recent video, retired professor Qin Hui from Tsinghua University criticized the unlimited extension of power by the Chinese Communist Party officials, while shirking responsibility when it comes to elderly care.
Qin Hui pointed out the imbalance between power and responsibility within the Chinese government. He questioned why the government enjoys unlimited power but only takes on limited responsibility. When it comes to government accountability, he noted a tendency to emphasize the heavy burden on the government compared to Western countries, while avoiding comparisons in terms of the limitations on government power that Western countries often practice.
Furthermore, Qin Hui stated, “Not only does the government have unrestricted powers to levy taxes and monopolize land profits, but it has also extended its authority into people’s wombs, saying ‘One-child policy is good, let the government take care of elderly.’ If truly taking on elderly care responsibilities, and claiming to learn from the West by delaying retirement, why not emphasize Chinese characteristics now? The extension of power into wombs is a Chinese characteristic, shouldn’t unlimited elderly care responsibility also be considered a Chinese characteristic?”
Qin Hui emphasized that in Western countries, where the government’s power is limited, they only bear limited elderly care responsibilities towards the people. However, in the case of the Chinese Communist Party, with its unlimited power, claiming to delay the statutory retirement age is said to align with international standards. He raised the question: if not willing to take on unlimited responsibilities, what justification is there for possessing unlimited power?
At present, this video by Qin Hui has been censored within China, but Chinese netizens have shared it on overseas social media platform X, attracting a large number of Chinese netizens to view and support it.
Online comments:
“First time seeing Professor Qin angry.”
“They lead everything, yet can remain unaccountable for everything.”
“Responsibility can ‘align,’ while power can only be ‘characteristic.'”
“Social security is a compulsory fraudulent contract.”
“Willing to collect money means big government centralizing efforts, talking politics, and fulfilling obligations, they discuss the imbalance in development due to population growth, highlighting a rogue-like behavior, with flexible and changeable standards.”
Xu Zhen, a senior figure in mainland capital markets, previously told The Epoch Times that the Chinese official narrative conveniently avoids addressing the issue of aging population. He mentioned that the inhumane one-child policy implemented for many years led to a cliff-like decline in the population, resulting in the rapid emergence of an aging society.
According to the “China Health Statistical Yearbook 2010,” China annually records at least 13 million documented cases of induced abortions, which is just the official statistic from the Chinese Communist Party. Data from the US State Department indicates that China has 23 million abortions annually.