Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is urging for the full protection of Chinese farmers’ rights to their property.

China’s Xinhua News Agency reports the Chinese premier said in a contribution to an official journal of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee that no one is empowered to deprive farmers of their land. He added China must respect farmers’ property rights when the government expropriates farmland.

Wen’s remarks are apparently targeted at local governments’ recent policies to integrate and develop farmland and move rural farmers to apartments.

The Chinese premier has been urging local officials to respect rural farmers’ property rights when commandeering farmland. In December last year, he said the nation’s system for seizing farmland must be reformed in a way to allow farmers to earn due benefits. His demand followed a long-running demonstration by residents in the southern Chinese village of “Wukan” in Guangdong Province over corruption among local officials.