On September 7-8, 2019, the 15th International Conference on Social Security was held in South Korea. The theme of this conference is “Prospects and Challenges of ‘Innovative Inclusive State’: A New Direction of East Asian Welfare States”. More than 100 experts and scholars from nearly 100 universities in China, Korea, Japan, Britain and France, as well as from the International Labour Organization, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic (South Korea), the Ministry of Education (South Korea) and the National Health Insurance Corporation attended the conference.

 the 15th International Conference on Social Security

 A group photo of participants (Prof. HE is the sixth from left in the fourth row)

Professor HE Wenjiong from School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University attended the conference and delivered an academic report related to major problems facing China’s pension system. He pointed out that after nearly 30 years of reform and exploration, China’s pension system has undergone historic changes: first, the pension model of wage workers has changed from a non-contributory welfare type to a contributory-based insurance type; second, the basic pension has been recognized as a basic right of people and the scope has been extended from wage laborers to all citizens. This is a significant progress, but there are still many problems: first, the huge gap in basic pension treatment among different groups reflects the inequity in basic pension rights and interests; second, the basic pension insurance for workers is statutory, while actually some salaried workers have not yet been insured, meaning that there is a huge gap between the actual insurance rate and the target coverage rate; third, the potential risks in the basic pension fund for employees pose a threat to the sustainability of the pension system; fourth, the slow development of supplementary pension makes the multi-level income security system for the elderly far from being formed. He also pointed out that, in the face of these problems, it was necessary to establish a fairer, more sustainable and more efficient pension system by deepening reform with the concept of modern governance.

Professor HE also chaired the discussion of the special forum on medical security and participated in several special discussions.