All the flowers are about to bloom
China’s quest to end extreme poverty cannot be derailed, says former Japanese prime minister
Editor’s note: As China aims to eliminate extreme poverty and be a “moderately prosperous society”
(xiaokang shehui) in time for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China next year, we talk to leading experts for their take on the country’s commitment.
As economies worldwide attempt to balance protecting public health with the need to get back to normal business, Yukio Hatoyama, a former Japanese prime minister, is confident that China will achieve its goal of eliminating extreme poverty by the end of this year despite the havoc that COVID-19 has wreaked.
“COVID-19 poses a huge challenge to China, but I am optimistic that it will be able to rise to this challenge,” Hatoyama said. “The Chinese economy will recover in the second part of the year.”
Hatoyama’s confidence is borne out by Chinese exports for July, which rose 7.2 percent in dollar terms compared with July last year, in a sign of resilience despite the fallout of the pandemic worldwide.
In June, exports rose 0.5 percent compared with June last year, and the economy had begun to improve after a severe contraction in the first two months of the year.
The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index rose to a 10-year high of 58.4 in June, compared with 55 in May and a nadir of 26.5 in February, indicating accelerated recovery as consumer spending rebounds and life gradually returns to normal.
“I think it critical for China to make a new model for the post COVID-19 economy, and I believe you can successfully do that,” said Hatoyama, who was Japan’s prime minister from September 2009 to June 2010.
“The trend for the elimination of extreme poverty remains firm, and the target will be met shortly.”
The roots of poverty eradication in China go back to 1979, when Chinese officials were in talks with the Japanese prime minister of the time, Masayoshi Ohira. Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping referred to xiaokang society, describing it as the goal of China’s modernization.
Deng had in mind a China that would one day become a country whose people would be moderately well-off, one in which economic prosperity could give most of the population a comfortable living.
In the four decades of reform and opening up since, poverty eradication has always been a centerpiece of the Communist Party of China’s policies at all levels, with hundreds of thousands of people and local officials being urged to promote poverty alleviation that is linked with strict, measurable objectives.
In the book Up and Out of Poverty, which is a collection of speeches and articles made by President Xi Jinping more than 30 years ago, when he was Party chief of the city of Ningde of Fujian province, he made poverty eradication a personal mission and gave people some first hints about his idea of how to go about the task.
He highlighted four principles: avoiding a poverty mentality (if you believe you are poor, you will be); adopting development measures suitable to local conditions; stressing the importance of strong leadership and coordination; and not wasting money on grandiose projects just because they may be popular.
“If you read the first principle ‘it’s all mental’, President Xi’s four principles get to the point of succeeding in almost every project,” Hatoyama said.
“The real greatness of President Xi is that he has actually executed those principles, proving that he is a man of his word.”
In less than a month after Xi took the helm following the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, he put forward his concept of a “Chinese dream” for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese people”.
The dream consisted of realizing the “Two Centenary Goals”: China becoming a “moderately well-off society” by about 2021, the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party; and China becoming completely developed by about 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
“Eliminating poverty, improving living standards and achieving common prosperity are the basic requirements of socialism and an important mission of the CPC,” Xi said.
“Building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects is our fundamental promise to the people.”
To achieve these goals, an average of 13 million people have been lifted out of poverty each year and about 775,000 officials have been sent to villages to promote poverty alleviation.
Since 2013, government funding for these efforts has risen more than 20 percent a year. As a result, China has made huge advances in relieving poverty, winning plaudits from international organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank for raising 850 million people out of extreme poverty.
“China’s success in eradicating absolute poverty in such a short period must be understood as unprecedented,” Hatoyama said. “I admire Chinese people for their dedication to the project of poverty eradication.”
However, he said, China’s efforts are insufficiently acknowledged, particularly in the West.
“It is a pity that relatively few people in the world seem to realize this great achievement,” he said.
“In the age of globalization, a vast volume of goods, people, (and) money are transacted across borders. But that does not always guarantee real mutual understanding. China should redouble its efforts to make itself understood, and the rest of the world, especially the West, should also try to understand China.”
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Western media started to question whether China could still achieve its goal of eradicating extreme deprivation by the end of this year, citing shutdowns and a shrinking economy in the first quarter. To make matters worse, this summer, swathes of China were inundated by floods.
Commenting on doubts about whether China could achieve its goal, Premier Li Keqiang said at the end of the National People’s Congress in May that the country remained on track to end extreme poverty.
“Before COVID-19 struck, there were about 5 million people living below the poverty line,” Li said. “But because of the disease, some may have fallen back into poverty. We hence face a greater task in achieving our goal.”
In a recent inspection tour of Jilin province in Northeast China, Xi reiterated the importance of ensuring a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicating poverty.
The internal conditions and external environment for the country’s development were undergoing profound and complex changes, he said.
“We must maintain sustained, healthy economic and social development,” Xi said, stressing the need to strengthen study and assessment, deepen research and pursue sound policies.
After some setbacks, China’s economy began to recover rapidly from coronavirus shutdowns and started to grow again. The National Bureau of Statistics said the economy grew 3.2 percent in the second quarter, and The Washington Post reported that analysts in Beijing were crowing that the country was “best-in-class at dealing with the pandemic”.
In the same article, Julian EvansPritchard, a senior economist at Capital Economics, was quoted as saying that with jobs and spending returning and the government trying to stimulate growth, the outlook was good.
“The recovery will inevitably slow down during the second half of the year now that the initial boost from reopening has passed. But … we think GDP will return to its pre-virus trend by the end of the year, faster than in any other major economy.”
Life in most parts of China has regained a semblance of normality, although temperature checks are required in most buildings and nearly everyone wears a mask. Many busi
nesses require proof of a clean bill of health through a smartphone app before they will allow customers to enter.
Exports also picked up as factories resumed production and the property market began to show some health, which Hatoyama said showed “the resilience of a supply chain system centered around China”.
“The size of China’s population and the Chinese people’s qualities made this possible,” Hatoyama said. “In other developing countries, conditions are not always the same, and there is not one way to climb a mountain. However, they have a lot to learn from the Chinese model. They can modify it to fit their own course. There is no doubt that China can be a good Shepherd for other developing countries.”
In an article titled “Take Targeted Measures Against Poverty”, Xi outlined how China could relieve poverty — the message essentially boiling down to boosting the economy to provide job opportunities locally, relocating poverty-stricken people, improving education and enhancing social help for those who have completely or partially lost the ability to work.
“We should encourage all people to work for a better future with their own hands and rely on local resources to end poverty,” Xi said. “Those who cannot escape from poverty locally can be relocated year by year in a planned and organized way, and the best way to help the poor is to raise their educational level.”
Hatoyama said China is happy to show the world a way of curbing unrelenting, shame-inducing and exhausting extreme poverty. It can do this because it has lifted more people out of poverty than any other country and it was the first to realize the UN Millennium Development Goals.
“When people live so close to the bone, a small setback can quickly spiral into a major trauma and all people should be freed from that fear,” Hatoyama said.
However, ending absolute poverty is just a first step, he said, because “eradicating poverty is a never-ending project” in which demographics, environmental degradation and energy scarcity also matter. He himself has been involved in China’s endeavor.
“My foundation has planted almost 6 million trees for 20 years in various parts of China,” said Hatoyama, who had once planted trees on both sides of the Three Gorges Dam and visited the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
“Visiting Guangxi was a heartwarming experience. I am very pleased to find that all over there is tremendous growth. I will continue to work with people to eradicate poverty and preserve nature.
“President Xi once told me ‘Spring has not yet come when you see a single flower blooming. You can say spring has come only after you see every flower blooming.’ Improving disparities in society will be the next big challenge for China, as well as for Japan.
“China’s growth is, of course, good for it and its people, but I firmly believe it’s also good for the rest of the world.”