CPC has key role in victory over poverty and pandemic

In early February 2020, soon after Wuhan was locked down because of the rapid spread of the virus in the city, I went on record in the media, international and Chinese, expressing confidence that China would contain the escalating epidemic.

I based my confidence not on any prophetic gift but on China’s success in alleviating extreme poverty, which I had been following for years. I saw a revealing parallelism between China winning the war to control the contagious virus and China winning the war to eradicate extreme poverty. The common root was the leadership and organizational capacity of the Communist Party of China that is set to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.

The structural similarities between anti-pandemic and antipoverty campaigns are striking: CPC leadership, CPC senior leader commitment and CPC mobilization.

First, the operational leadership of the CPC — not just giving directives and making pronouncements, but implementing programs and operating projects through the CPC organizational structure — central government and five levels of local government (provincial, municipal, county, township, village).

Second, the commitment of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee — who sets an example that leaders and officials must follow. Almost everywhere Xi goes, he stresses poverty alleviation and encourages Party officials to visit impoverished areas regularly and interact with poor people directly.

Xi has made the remarkable statement: “I have spent more energy on poverty alleviation than on anything else.” I know no other national leader who has made such an assertion. Similarly, during the pandemic, when Xi visited hospitals and spoke with frontline workers, the whole country got the message.

Third, the mobilization capacity of the CPC — as it steers resources such as personnel and materials.