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December 4, 2020

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Winning the war against poverty

Source: Xinhua | 00:19 UTC+8 December 4, 2020 | Print Edition

China has vowed to eliminate absolute poverty by the end of this year, 10 years ahead of the poverty-eradication schedule set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

China has recently achieved the feat of removing all remaining counties from the poverty list.

But it still faces major challenges in making further progress and safeguarding the gains already made.

Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, more than 700 million people have been lifted out of poverty 鈥 more than 70 percent of the global reduction.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called China鈥檚 achievements 鈥渧ery strong.鈥

Since 1978, China has adjusted the standard for absolute poverty several times to keep it in line with social and economic development.

The current rural poverty line is 2,300 yuan (US$350) per person per year at the 2010 price level. The figure is subject to adjustment. In 2019, the poverty line was 3,218 yuan.

Considering factors such as purchasing power parity and the urban-rural price gap, the standard is higher than the World Bank鈥檚 extreme-poverty benchmark of US$1.90 per person per day.

China鈥檚 poverty-eradication standard cannot be defined by income alone. The basic campaign also helps ensure the poor have enough food and clothing, as well as access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing.

China has pledged to prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas, and to advance rural vitalization.

The country is improving the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of agriculture, carrying out rural development initiatives, and giving rural construction an important position in socialist modernization. Efforts are also being made to deepen rural reforms to improve the integrated urban-rural development mechanism.

Safeguarding jobs

China has strived to reduce rural poverty with technological innovations. In the past five years, it has focused on the technical bottleneck of the agricultural industry and promoted more than 50,000 new varieties and technologies.

Continued efforts have also been made to safeguard employment of the poor, with more than 90 percent of the registered poverty-stricken population having received support in employment or benefited from poverty-relief policies.

Although China is on track to eradicate absolute poverty by the end of 2020, tackling relative poverty will be a long-term task, said Ou Qingping, deputy-director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. Ou also stressed efforts to optimize the monitoring-and-assisting mechanism to prevent people from sliding back.

After winning a complete victory against poverty, China will allow a transition period during which policies and assistance to help the poor will remain unchanged.

Follow-up work in poverty-alleviation relocation will be stressed, while the rural social security and relief system will be improved.

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