China's pension fund is generally stable at present, and it can be guaranteed that all social security benefits are paid in full and are on time, said You Jun, Deputy Minister of China's Human Resources and Social Security Ministry at a briefing Friday. 

From January to June, the total income of the basic endowment insurance fund of enterprise employees was 1.9 trillion yuan (280 billion U.S. dollars), the fund expenditure was 1.6 trillion yuan (230 billion U.S. dollars), and the accumulated balance exceeded 5 trillion yuan (730 billion U.S. dollars), according to You.

Read more: How China is solving pension fund challenge amid population aging

You said that the work of reducing social security rates has progressed smoothly since May when China lowered pension contributions from enterprises from 20 percent to 16 percent in an effort to reduce tax burdens on businesses and to boost the economy.

The basic endowment insurance rates of enterprise employees dropped to 16 percent in 29 provinces. The province and cities, which current rate is below 16 percent, remain unchanged. From January to June, the actual fee reduction for basic endowment insurance, unemployment insurance and work injury insurance for enterprise employees exceeded 128 billion yuan (18.6 billion U.S. dollars), according to You.

Transfer of state assets in balancing pension fund

A combination of factors lead by an aging population and lower pension contributions from enterprises fuels debate that pension funds will have difficulty maintaining a balance in the coming years.

According to government plans released in November 2017, 10 percent of state assets will be transferred to the pension fund.

The third batch of 35 China's state-owned enterprises will transfer state-owned capital to enrich the pension fund, said Director of the Asset Management Department of China's Ministry of Finance Lu Qingping on Friday. It is estimated that three batches of 59 state-owned enterprises will transfer about 660 billion yuan (around 96 billion U.S. dollars) of state-owned capital.

China is accelerating into an aging society, with 17.9 percent of the total population aged 60 or above, and 11.9 percent aged 65 or above, according to 2018 figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the government would increase the total amount of the social security fund by transferring state assets to guarantee the safety of pension during the first session of the 13th National People's Congress in March.