Xi: Country meets poverty reduction goal
Accomplishment hailed as remarkable victory that has greatly impressed world
China has achieved its goal of poverty reduction as planned and lifted nearly 100 million people out of poverty in the past eight years, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said on Thursday.
Xi made the remark at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He was briefed about the assessment of poverty alleviation work.
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party has taken lots of innovative and creative measures to reduce poverty and has waged a war against poverty of the largest ever scale in mankind’s history, Xi said.
Xi announced that with eight years of continuous efforts, all rural people, based on the current criteria in China, have been lifted out of poverty.
All remaining counties have been removed from the country’s poverty list, and absolute poverty and overall regional poverty have been eliminated in the country, Xi said, adding that this is a remarkable victory that has greatly impressed the world.
Since the start of reform and opening-up in 1978, China has adjusted the standard for absolute poverty several times to keep it in line with the country’s social and economic development.
The current rural poverty line is 2,300 yuan per person per year at the 2010 price level. The specific figure is subject to adjustment as the country’s price levels change. In 2019, the poverty line was 3,218 yuan ($490), according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The great victory in poverty reduction has laid solid foundations for the fulfillment of the first centenary goal — to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the CPC celebrates its centenary in 2021 — and has boosted the people’s feeling of gain, happiness and safety, Xi said.
The livelihood of the people in poverty-stricken areas has been greatly improved, and the people have sufficient food and clothing, as well as access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing, he added.
In poverty reduction work, the CPC has put the people first and made efforts to help poor people lead a happy life, he said.
Party committees and governments at all levels and society have coordinated with each other, the coastal and inland areas have helped each other, and officials have worked hard, which has demonstrated the CPC’s mission, responsibility and spirit of sacrifice, he said.
Noting that the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development still exists in China, Xi said that it remains an arduous task to consolidate the achievements of poverty reduction.
He urged implementation of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC and called for maintaining the stability of the current poverty alleviation policies, funds and forces.
Xi called for continuous efforts to help people avoid returning to poverty, with measures such as promoting poverty-reduction industries, improving infrastructure in rural areas, expanding markets for rural products and providing skills training.
He also urged enhanced management of poverty-reduction funds and assets, help for workers to get jobs near their home, and measures to ensure the people’s basic livelihood.
A total of 9.6 million Chinese people were relocated to better homes under the Chinese government’s poverty-reduction campaign during the 13th FiveYear Plan (2016-20) period, a senior official said on Thursday.
During that time, more than 600 billion yuan ($91.4 billion) was invested and 2.66 million houses or apartments built, with the average living area for each household reaching 80.6 square meters, Zhao Chenxin, secretarygeneral of the National Development and Reform Commission, said a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.
The project was carried out jointly by the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, and the finance, civil affairs, natural resources and human resources and social security ministries, with the purpose of relocating people out of places where the environment is too harsh for them to live.
Beneficiaries have been relocated to 22 provinces and regions, mostly in central and western China, including Guizhou and Shaanxi provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Zhao said.
“People who used to live in shabby adobe houses, thatched cottages and dilapidated shelters are now living in new, bright, safe, solid houses,” he said.
To make the grand relocation work more sustainable, 6,100 schools and kindergartens, 12,000 hospitals and clinics, 3,400 senior care centers and 40,000 spaces for cultural events and activities were also built or renovated, Zhao said.
The relocation has not only improved people’s lives, but also has brought them more local job opportunities and higher incomes.
For people who faced difficulties landing jobs after relocation, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security joined hands with other government departments to create jobs for them, said Zhang Ying, director of the ministry’s employment promotion department.
Measures have been i ntroduced to hire newcomers for jobs in public sectors in the new communities — allocating more spaces i n the communities for people to start their own businesses — and to encourage laborintensive enterprises to build factories near the new communities.
“These measures combined have helped 3.85 million relocated people land jobs, making sure that each family has at least one person employed,” she said.
Statistics showed that the average annual income of relocated residents has more than doubled from 4,221 yuan in 2016 to 9,313 yuan last year.
Zhao said that by the end of last year, 9.2 million relocated people have escaped poverty.
“The conditions of the remaining 400,000 are being assessed, and we are confident that they can shake off poverty,” he said.
“By moving impoverished people out of their previous harsh living environment, the government can stop poverty from being passed down to future generations,” he added.