"For the management of social security funds, safety always comes before increasing the value," said Tian Chengping, Minister of Labor and Social Security, when addressing graduate students from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

By the end of 2005, China's social security funds totaled 1.84 trillion yuan (233.35 billion US dollars), according to official statistics.

"Strict rules should be set for the management of these funds and any investment should be carried out with extreme caution," Tian said.

China's current social security framework includes five main insurance programs: pension, unemployment, medical treatment, injury at work, and pre-and postal-natal care for female employees.

The misuse of social security funds has been highlighted this year. In September, the Shanghai scandal, involving misconduct over 3.2-billion-yuan loan of city funds in Shanghai, brought down Chen Liangyu, Party Secretary of Shanghai and member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee.

Chen is China's highest ranking official to be sacked in a corruption scandal in the last decade.

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