|
Party's people-centered philosophy, commitment to task crucial to victory Countries racing to curb dire poverty are advised to formulate relief
plans based on conditions on the ground and to adopt a "scientific"
attitude while deciding the poverty thresholds, aims and strategies for
their own campaigns, a Chinese official said on Tuesday. "That's because every country and region faces different conditions,
and decisions must be based on their actual situations," said Wang
Zhengpu, head of the National Administration for Rural Vitalization,
which was inaugurated in February, replacing the State Council Leading
Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the former top
antipoverty agency. The Communist Party of China advanced the decadeslong poverty
reduction campaign in the world's most populous nation "step by step"
with "continuous efforts", and its tailor-made approach is among the
"invaluable experiences" that underpin its success, Wang said at a news
conference. He responded to media questions about how China's poverty
relief experience could serve as a reference for other countries. China pulled more than 770 million rural residents out of dire
poverty after its embrace of wide-ranging reforms in 1978, according to a
white paper titled "Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and
Contribution", which was released on Tuesday. It said the number of
Chinese who escaped poverty accounted for more than 70 percent of the
world's impoverished people in that period, measured by the poverty
threshold set by the World Bank. President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC
Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission,
announced in February that China had scored a "complete victory" in its
fight against absolute poverty. Xu Lin, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central
Committee and minister of the State Council Information Office, said
that the white paper offers a "panoramic view" of the country's
prolonged poverty reduction cause. "The practice of poverty reduction in China shows that poverty is not destined, nor is poverty invincible," he said. Summing up the experience that other nations wish to emulate, Wang
said the accomplishments were made possible because of several key
factors, such as the Party's "people-centered" philosophy and its
commitment to the task, the country's sustained economic growth and the
wide involvement of nongovernment players in the fight. "These are the political, institutional and organizational strengths of the CPC," he said. This year also marks a watershed for China's rural policies. Before,
the central authorities had prioritized poverty reduction in the vast
countryside as part of a broader effort to build China into a
"moderately prosperous society in all respects" by the CPC's centenary
this year. As China has achieved success in eradicating absolute poverty, the
country has embarked on vitalizing its rural areas－a task that is
central to the nation's modernization drive, which will continue up to
midcentury. To prevent large-scale backsliding into poverty, Wang said, the new
administration will keep monitoring the income levels of still
vulnerable families. "The principles are early identification, early intervention and early assistance," Wang said. Also being watched are their access to safe homes, compulsory
education, affordable healthcare and clean water－benchmarks that had
been adopted to track poverty reduction progress in addition to the
monetary poverty threshold of 2,300 yuan ($351) annual per capita
income. That threshold was set more than a decade ago and adjusted
annually for inflation. Hong Tianyun, a deputy director of the
administration, said it fits China's situation. The administration has created a five-year transition period during
which the favorable policies adopted in the poverty-reduction era will
be kept in place. Officials have made pledges to support industrial
development in less-developed regions and maintain support from across
the whole of society. Hong said at the news conference that follow-up assistance is of
utmost importance among the 9.6 million impoverished rural residents who
moved out of isolated hamlets between 2016 and last year, the scale of
which is globally unprecedented. More vocational training will be rolled out for them and efforts will
be made to develop local industries that can create jobs that fit with
the local demographics and boost community services, he said. "We'll work to bolster the sense of belonging and happiness among settlers," he said.
| 
Related News
