China has issued a white paper titled “Poverty Alleviation: China’s Experience and Contribution”, which gives a comprehensive review of the course of the Chinese people’s great fight in eliminating extreme poverty under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), especially since the 18th CPC National Congress. It also shares China’s approach, experience and practice in poverty alleviation.
Upholding the people-centered philosophy, China has made poverty alleviation a top priority in its governance. Efforts have been made to eradicate poverty through development while giving full consideration to reality. China has blazed a development path that suits its national conditions. China’s 770 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total over the same period according to the World Bank’s international poverty standard. Having achieved relevant target set in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, China has enabled hundreds of millions of its people to live a better life, significantly reduced the world’s poor population, and expanded the capacity of humanity to get rid of poverty. Such accomplishment is of milestone significance, and will leave its mark not only in the history of the Chinese nation but also the history of mankind. China will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries in poverty reduction, and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future that is free from poverty and features common prosperity. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged the success of China’s anti-poverty campaign over the past few years, calling it “the most important contribution” to the global poverty reduction cause.
What are the reasons for China’s victory in the fight eliminating poverty? Why can China win the fight eliminating poverty?
First, the victory of China’s anti-poverty depends on the leadership of the CPC. Since the founding of the CPC, it has always been its original aspiration and founding mission to strive for the happy life for the the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it has united and led the Chinese people in their long-term and arduous struggle to create their own beautiful life. Since the founding of new China, the CPC has led the people to work hard on their own and lay a solid foundation for getting rid of poverty and improving people’s lives. Since the reform and opening up, the CPC has led the people to carry out large-scale, planned and organized poverty alleviation and development, focusing on solving and developing social productive forces and ensuring and improving people’s livelihood. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC has proposed that the most arduous task of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is in rural areas, especially in poor areas. The 19th CPC National Congress comprehensively deployed the reducing and eradicating poverty as one of the three major battles.
Second, we uphold the people-centered development thought and unswervingly take the path of common prosperity. The CPC has always been firm in the people’s position, regarding ending poverty, improving people’s well-being and realizing common prosperity as the essential whole-heartedly serving the people, and concentrating on solving the basic people’s livelihood needs of the poverty people. We would rather have fewer major projects, but we should also give priority to ensuring the investment in poverty alleviation. We will take the realization, maintenance and development of the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people as the ultimate goal of all our work.
Third, we uphold the political advantage that China’s socialist system can concentrate its efforts on major tasks, and form a common will and common action to get rid of poverty. We have mobilized the whole party, the whole country and the whole society to declare war on poverty. The whole country has made concerted efforts to tackle the difficulties. The party, the government, the military and the people are working hard together. We have made the strength from East, West, North and south of China. We have carried out industrial poverty alleviation, scientific poverty alleviation, technological poverty alleviation, educational poverty alleviation, cultural poverty alleviation, health poverty alleviation and consumption poverty alleviation. We have built a large-scale poverty alleviation pattern with special poverty alleviation, industrial poverty alleviation and social poverty alleviation complementing each other, forming a cross regional poverty alleviation pattern and building a social poverty alleviation system with the participation of districts, departments, units and the whole society.
Fourth, We uphold the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation to improve effectiveness, eliminate the root causes of poverty by means of development. In order to get rid of poverty, we should take targeted measures, ensure that poverty alleviation resources are really used in poverty alleviation objects and areas, and help poverty alleviation to ideas, roots and families. Take development as the fundamental way to solve poverty, improve development conditions and enhance development capacity. We should firmly grasp education as the fundamental policy of getting rid of poverty and becoming rich, and emphasizing that no matter how poor we are, emphasizing that no matter how poor we are, education can’t be poor, children can’t be poor.
Fifth, we stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the poor, arouse their enthusiasm in fighting poverty. To get rid of poverty, we must get rid of ideological poverty. We focus on transforming the people’s yearning for a better life into a powerful driving force for poverty alleviation, help them access education and build aspiration, and guide the people to take the lead in getting rid of poverty and changing their destiny with hard-working hands and indomitable will. We guide the people to set up the vision of “rather work hard than suffer” , encourage them to “as long as they have confidence, the loess will turn into gold”, and enhance their resilience of “weak birds fly first and drop water wears through the stone”. Always uphold the principle of serving and relying on the people, respect the dominant position and pioneering spirit of the people, and fully inspire the wisdom and strength of the people.
Sixth, we persist in carrying forward the virtues of working together with one heart, uniting and helping each other, and create a strong atmosphere for the whole society to help the poor. We should inherit the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, such as keeping watch and helping each other, working together and helping the poor. We should care about the poor people and the cause of poverty reduction, and join in the action of poverty alleviation, so as to form a pattern of social assistance that everyone is willing to do, everyone can do and everyone can do. We must resolutely oppose formalism and bureaucracy, put all our work into solving practical problems for the poor, and persist in doing our best to prosper the country and benefit the people.
Poverty is a chronic affliction of human society and the struggle against poverty has always been a major task of national governance in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Under the guidance of President Xi Jinping’s thought on poverty alleviation and reduction, the aspirations of the people to live a better life has always been the focus of the efforts of the CPC. Great historic achievements has been made in eradicating extreme poverty that has plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years, and creating a miracle in the history of eradicating poverty of mankind.
By Chinese Ambassador Qin Jian to Somalia
