WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's Labor and Social Security Minister Tian Chengping on Thursday vowed that his ministry would strengthen inspection and enforcement of labor protection in order to protect the rights and interests of Chinese workers.

Tian said in a speech to the Brookings Institution that protecting the rights and interests of workers is one important aspect of building a harmonious society in China.

"There are still cases of infringement on workers' legitimate rights and interests. The number of labor dispute cases is also on the rise," said Tian, who arrived here on Tuesday and held talks with his U.S. counterpart Elaine L. Chao on Wednesday.

Tian said that labor relations in China are getting more diversified and complicated as the development of diversified ownership, the change of enterprise management and work organization, the increasing labor mobility, and the emerging flexible forms of employment.

"All these mean an even more arduous task in protecting the rights and interests of the workers and improving labor relations adjustment mechanisms," he said.

However, China will make efforts "to improve the dispute resolution system and supervision mechanism for labor relations," Tian said, adding that China is now reviewing the draft of the Labor Contract Law, and the public consultation on the draft is underway.

The government would further improve the collective consultation mechanism, coordination mechanism and labor dispute settlement mechanism, he stressed.

At the same time, his ministry would further strengthen inspection and enforcement of labor protection, and deal with law-breaking cases seriously, the minister added. Enditem