Varied response

Reviews from foreigners are mixed. A recent online survey conducted by China Daily found that nearly 58 percent of the 164 foreign respondents are willing to participate in China's social security policy while working here.

Clare Pearson, a British national who moved to China five years ago, works at a Chinese magazine in Beijing. She said she welcomes the new initiative of the government.

"I think it's a good move, which could benefit foreigners like me who love to stay and work in this country," she said. "I don't care about the monthly social insurance fees that I should pay, because such a measure would make me feel that I'm no longer an outsider but a part of the country."

Ismael, who didn't want his full name used, is a 28-year-old Frenchman who has worked for a Chinese company in Beijing for more than three years. He thinks foreign employees who plan to work long-term for a company in China, under contract, will be willing to pay for the insurance because the financial burden will be shared with the employer.

He is partly covered by expensive private insurance provided by his company. He has been considering applying for coverage in China provided by a French company. "However, it is also extremely expensive in absence of a partnership on the matter between France and China," he said.

Compared with going to a "fancy" hospital with English-speaking staff, he said, treatment in a standard Chinese hospital is cheaper and efficient. "It is unfair that non-citizens would be excluded from mandatory social security coverage," he said.

Why some say no

Reasons cited by survey participants who rejected the idea included doubt over how the premium will be managed, limited information about the benefits and possession of social security in their home countries.

Some simply didn't want income deducted for the premium because they don't intend to be in China for long.

Melia, who gave just her first name, is a 30-year-old Indonesian who doubted she would stay long enough to collect her pension and she worried that it will be difficult to claim a refund when she leaves China or changes jobs. She has been assigned to China for 1 years by an Indonesian company, and she works in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province.

Lu Xuejing, a social security expert at Capital University of Economics and Business, said that the new regulation would be more popular with foreigners who planned to stay in China even after retirement.

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Take endowment insurance, for instance. In China, workers pay 8 percent of their wages and employers pay an amount equal to 20 percent of workers' wages each month to workers' pension accounts. Workers must contribute for at least 15 years to collect a pension after retiring.

Notably, distrust over the fund management ranked as the top reason, chosen by 30 percent of those who frowned upon the idea, the survey found.

A Filipino working for an education company in Xiamen said insurance companies are the biggest winner of this new social insurance program.

"I think the only people who will see any benefits are those who married Chinese citizens and are planning to reside long term. They are only a small group among all expats living in China," she said, asking not to be named.

"But obviously the insurance companies are definitely benefiting a lot from this program. And we don't know who will manage the fund and how."

The quality of the services she will receive from the program is another concern.

"I don't use the company's prescribed health insurance, because I don't like the public hospitals." She said it is unreasonable to ask her to pay about 10 percent of her salary only to be treated in crowded public hospitals.