Chinese Government will do all it can to help provide basic needs to people with financial difficulties, a senior official said on January 25.

    Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo said the government will provide social assistance to help those in poverty "share the result of the country's reform and development."

    In an online talk-show hosted by Central Government Web sites, he said that a social assistance framework is taking definite shape and is steadily improving.

    There are 50 million people receiving regular social assistance from the government, not including those who receive emergency and temporary aid, Li said.

    He also said the government plans to increase funds allocated to social assistance programs.

    Starting this year, the government rather than the villages, will provide cash to rural five-guarantee villagers -- the 3.2 million nationwide who receive five guarantees of food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses, said Chen Rifa from the ministry's Policy Research Office.

    Last year, some 90 million people received government aid for disaster relief. Natural disasters alone left 1,855 people dead and 458 missing.

    By the end of last year, 22.05 million urban residents and 6 million rural dwellers had received the minimum living subsidy, Chen was quoted by the China Daily as saying. The government provides a monthly allowance of between 169 yuan (US$20.8) and 344 yuan per person, according to regional economic strength.

    The government also provided medical aid to 9.4 million urban poor and 1.1 million rural poor last year.

    Li urged individuals, businesses and institutions to offer more donations to help perfect the social mutual assistance network.

    During a new donation drive initiated by President Hu Jintao last December, more than 540 million yuan in cash and 41 million donated quilts and articles of clothing have been sent to people in need, Li said.

    However, the government's current input of social assistance only accounts for less than 0.02 percent of the country's gross domestic product, according to a report released last September by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.