Trending on Weibo on Friday is the question “Can I Stop Paying Social Insurance Contribution After 15 Years?” (#社保缴费满15年就可以不缴了吗#).
The hashtag, initiated by the Sina Hot Spot account (@新浪热点), focuses on the question of whether or not employees are allowed to stop paying social security fees if they have already paid them for a full 15 years, without this affecting their retirement and without seeing cuts in their insurance money.
The question came up in relation to some companies allegedly telling employees that they could agree to stop paying fees after 15 years. But in China, individuals need to pay 15 years of social insurance fees prior to receiving their pension funds once they retire, while enterprises are also legally obliged to contribute to the social security of their employees.
The answer to the question asked is thus that it is not possible to stop paying social security fees after this period, as employees need to minimally pay fees for 15 years and cannot just stop paying after this period as long as they are employed.
Sina Hot Spot ends their post with: “We will participate in the social security [system] according to law and we will enjoy the rights and protection it brings!” [“依法依规来参保，享受权益与保障!”]
Tiny Topic Trending, Major Ones Censored
The fact that this particular social security topic was ranking no 4 in the top trending lists on Friday is noteworthy in a week of protests related to social security. Many Chinese retirees are angry about a cut in their monthly allowances after reforms in the public health insurance system.
Wuhan recently saw two protests over these cuts in local government-provided medical insurance for seniors. There was a protest in Wuhan on February 8, and a second one followed on February 15, when protesters also took to the streets in Dalian to speak out against the health care reforms that are reducing their benefits.
Medical insurance is a component of China’s ‘five-insurances’ social security system. Besides medical insurance, the other main social insurances are pension, unemployment, maternity, and work injury insurance.
China’s social welfare system was already facing pressure prior to the pandemic due to a rapidly aging society and fewer people in the workforce. The country’s Covid-19 outbreak and zero Covid policy has only added the financial burdens for local governments.
As reported by The Guardian, hundreds of elderly people took to the streets in the recent demonstrations. In Wuhan, the protests mainly took place at the city’s Zhongshan park and outside the city hall.
The Weibo post by Sina Hot Spot about social security, which would otherwise be relatively insignificant, now received over 160,000 likes, and the related hashtag received 400 million views on Friday.
Meanwhile, many other hashtags relating to the Wuhan and Dalian protests – directly or indirectly – were taken offline as many discussions about the topic were controlled and censored. Popular hashtags such as “Wuhan Medical Insurance” (#武汉医保#) and “Wuhan Zhongshan Park” (#武汉中山公园#) were no longer available at time of writing.
By Manya Koetse
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