By Zhong Sheng
China is going to eradicate absolute poverty, which will make tremendous contributions to the global poverty relief cause, said Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sixth National Poverty Relief Day, which falls on Oct. 17 every year.
The remarks by Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, underscored the global significance of China winning the battle against poverty.
China’s poverty alleviation cause attracts global attention. The country’s battle against poverty, which has reached a crucial stage of securing a decisive and complete victory, is lauded by international observers as the most powerful China story.
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty also fell on Oct. 17. To eliminate poverty has become a mission of all mankind as well as a hot issue of concern in the world.
Just a few days ago, three economists were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. The Nobel committee pointed out that one of humanity’s most urgent issues is the reduction of global poverty.
According to a report released by the UN, as of 2018, an estimated 820 million people didn’t have enough to eat and the number of hungry people in the world has been growing for years in a row. The UN has already listed no poverty as its priority in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
China, of all countries, particularly stands out for the achievements it has made in poverty alleviation. According to the international poverty line of $1.9 per day set by the World Bank, China has lifted over 800 million people out of poverty since its reform and opening up in 1978, contributing over 70 percent to global poverty reduction.
China has become the first developing country to realize the UN Millennium Development Goal in terms of poverty alleviation.
Between 2013 and 2018, China helped a total of 82.39 million people shake off poverty, with an annual average of over 13 million people casting off poverty. That is to say, nearly 30 people were lifted out of poverty per minute, which is an achievement that impressed the whole world.
China’s poverty alleviation is one of the greatest stories in human history, said Jim Yong Kim, former president of the World Bank. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, thinks that when historians of the future write the chronicles of our times, a feature may well be China’s targeted poverty alleviation.
The poor population in the world is actually increasing instead of decreasing if China’s contribution to poverty reduction is not taken into account, according to a report released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development. It noted that China has made great contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction.
What’s the secret receipt of China’s success? It is something that people who are concerned about poverty alleviation are trying to figure out.
It is increasingly clear that the secret of China lies in that the Chinese people have explored a new model of poverty alleviation with Chinese characteristics though hard work.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the CPC has led the whole nation in the fight against poverty, guided by the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly and by the development concept centered on the people.
The CPC central committee has lifted poverty alleviation to a more prominent position since the 18th CPC National Congress held in 2012. After it proposed the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation in Nov. 2013, China has gathered the strength of the whole society and effectively implemented the strategy, making an essential move of winning the war against poverty.
China’s targeted poverty alleviation sets a good example for the world and more and more foreign guests came to China to visit the areas that have shaken off poverty and learn from their experiences.
Bounnhang Vorachith, general secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee and president of Laos visited Shibadong village, central China’s Hunan province and Ningde city, southeast Fujian province, in 2018 and 2019 respectively, to learn from their experience of targeted poverty alleviation.
In 2018, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution addressing poverty eradication in rural areas and included some Chinese concepts in this regard such as targeted poverty alleviation.
Targeted poverty reduction strategies are the only way to reach those farthest behind and achieve the ambitious targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN. He believes China’s experiences can provide valuable lessons to other developing countries.
China’s efforts in poverty alleviation are paying off. By taking a road of high-quality poverty reduction, China is committed to lifting the entire rural population living below the current poverty line out of poverty by 2020, 10 years ahead of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, infusing impetus into global poverty alleviation and development.
The country is actively participating in global poverty reduction governance, strengthening exchanges of experiences in this field and jointly promoting international cooperation on poverty reduction.
Meanwhile, the whole world should actively join the undisputed goals of sustainable development and work together to build a poverty-free community of human destiny featuring common development.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
