China's private pension scheme expanded to entire nation from Dec 15

China's private pension scheme, which began as a pilot program in 36 cities and regions, has now been expanded to the entire nation, effective from Sunday, marking a significant policy shift that could reshape the way millions of citizens plan for their retirement.

This expansion was announced in a notice released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, along with four other government departments.

Launched in November 2022, the private pension scheme was initially tested in 36 cities and regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

With the nationwide rollout, all workers covered by either the basic pension insurance for urban employees or the basic pension insurance for urban and rural residents are now eligible to participate.

The private pension scheme is a government-supported, market-driven initiative designed to supplement China's existing social pension systems. It operates on a voluntary basis, allowing individuals to contribute to their own pension accounts and choose from a variety of government-approved financial products to grow their retirement savings.

The system also offers tax incentives to encourage people to save more for the future. Participants are allowed to contribute up to 12,000 yuan (over 1,600 U.S. dollars) annually.

One of the key aspects of this expansion is the broadening of available investment options. In addition to existing financial products such as wealth management products, savings deposits, commercial pension insurance, and publicly offered funds, new investment choices -- including government bonds, specific pension savings programs, and index funds -- have now been included in the scheme.

"The expanded range of investment options for private pension clients provides more diverse choices that can better meet the varied retirement needs of different individuals. This will enhance the long-term appeal of the scheme," said Jin Hua, Deputy General Manager of Personal Finance at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Moreover, based on the experience learned from the pilot phase, the new notice includes provisions for early withdrawals under certain circumstances. Participants who face serious illness, meet specific unemployment conditions, or are receiving minimum living security benefits can apply to withdraw their pension funds before reaching retirement age.

"During the pilot phase, we received feedback from clients who expressed concerns about accessing their pension savings in the event of unexpected challenges, such as illness or income loss," said Zhang Xiaojing, Senior Manager of Personal Digital Finance at the Bank of China, adding that with these new provisions, participants can have greater peace of mind, knowing they can access their funds when needed.

By the end of November, over 70 million people had opened private pension accounts, indicating strong public interest in the scheme.

China's private pension scheme expanded to entire nation from Dec 15

China's private pension scheme expanded to entire nation from Dec 15

The successful development of Macao's first satellite "Macao Science 1" proves the success of "One Country, Two Systems", a policy that helps the special administrative region sufficiently use the resources provided by both the mainland and the international community.

The Macao University of Science and Technology is the birthplace of the first space science satellite program jointly developed by the Chinese mainland and Macao. Zhang Keke, a renowned astrophysicist and chair professor of the university is the chief scientist of the satellite project.

"This is Macao's first satellite ground station where we receive data from the 'Macao Science 1' satellite and then transmit the collected data to the ground data processing center in Macao," said Zhang Keke, dean of the Macao Academy of Space Technology and Application as he showed reporters a white spherical facility.

On May 21, 2023, "Macao Science 1" was sent into space from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

In March 2024, the satellite detected geomagnetic storm-trigged strong temporal and spatial variations in the Earth's magnetic field and solar flares, and the findings soon attracted much attention from the international scientific community.

"It was the first time that a Chinese satellite detected strong variations in the Earth's magnetic field triggered by geomagnetic storm," said Zhang.

Since August, researchers in the Macao University of Science and Technology have been publishing data collected by "Macao Science 1" satellite on the university's official website, and the released data won wide appraises for its high quality.

"This data is proving to be really good. We have one year now. All data that we can download is freely available. Right now we are just learning to download this data because we've just got enough to be able to do some real scientific research and the [data's] quality is very very high," said David Gubbins, emeritus professor of geophysics of the University of Leeds.

Zhang said "Macao Science 1" stands as an example of the success of "One Country, Two Systems", a policy that helps Macao fully unleash its unique role as a bridge between the mainland and the rest of the world and achieve fast development in multiple fields.

"Our team has many Chinese and Western scientists. So Macao works as a perfect bridge or a perfect channel for the 'One Country, Two Systems' policy to be implemented impeccably in Macao," said Zhang.

Development of Macao’s first satellite proves success of “One Country, Two Systems”