NEWS//China is alleviating poverty

According to People’s Daily (a government-controlled media outlet), on March 6, 2020,  Chinese President Xi Jinping renewed his commitment to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty by the end of the year. He called the goal a "solemn pledge" made by the Party to the people.

The road out of poverty

Peoples’ Daily added that Xi’s commitment is to bring everyone in China up to the level of a “moderately prosperous society.” He insisted that China could not claim to be a “moderately prosperous society,” no matter how high its GDP per capita, if even one Chinese citizen remained in absolute or extreme poverty.

China’s war against poverty is being fought on several fronts.

• boosting consumption of products from poor areas

• supporting businesses involved in poverty alleviation

• ensuring rural migrant workers from poor areas have stable jobs

• chartering trains to take migrant workers back to their urban jobs

• providing follow-up support to people relocated from inhospitable areas  

• deepening collaboration on poverty alleviation between eastern and western regions

Progress toward poverty alleviation

China Global Television Network reports that significant progress has been made. “China's poverty alleviation efforts have seen groundbreaking results since its reform and opening-up measures in 1978. Over the past four decades, more than 850 million Chinese have risen above the poverty threshold, contributing 70 percent to the global poverty reduction.”

Yahoo Finance reports, “The country saw the number of impoverished rural residents decline from nearly 770 million in late 1978 to 5.51 million by the end of 2019, as shown by data from China's National Bureau of Statistics. And the poverty headcount ratio dropped to 0.6% from 97.5% during the period.”

Sources: Peoples’ Daily, CGTN (note the video), China.org, Yahoo Finance

Alternate views: Bitter Winter, The Diplomat