We’ve won fight against poverty, 98.99m impoverished Chinese lifted- Maoming

The Consul General of the Peoples’ Republic of China in Nigeria, Chu Maoming, has made known President Xi Jinping declaration that China has secured a ‘complete victory’ in her fight against poverty.

According to Maoming, President Xi, who made this declaration February 24th 2021, during the grand gathering at the Great Hall of the people in Beijing to mark China’s poverty alleviation accomplishments, as well as to honor the country’s model poverty fighters said that, over the past eight years, China’s final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty.

While summarising China’s experience in conquering poverty and the role of the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s leadership to ensure political and organizational guaranteed process, the CG said in the poverty relief work, which was led by the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC with its 90 million members, progressive Party chiefs at all levels, assumed the primary responsibility and achieved the campaign’s ambitious targets.

“Over 3 million public sector officials were sent from cities and towns to villages to fight poverty on the front lines.

China’s clinched victory in eradicating absolute poverty has achieved the poverty reduction goal set by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a decade in advance. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said China’s poverty reduction experiences, can provide valuable lessons to other developing countries”, Maoming disclosed.

“The hard-won feat, which came after decades of unremitting efforts by the world’s most populous country in my opinion”, the CG went on, “bears hope and inspiration for countries that are also searching for ways to eliminate destitution, as well as promote equality and development.”

“First and foremost, China’s struggle for poverty alleviation epitomizes the people-centered philosophy of the Chinese government. Facing the numerous obstacles posed by COVID-19, the Chinese government did not push back its goal of lifting all rural residents out of poverty by 2020. Instead, it has managed to deliver its solemn promise to the Chinese people on time, Maoming added.

He further stressed that the poverty reduction accomplishment, is an outcome of a continuous drive that combines proper planning, clear goal, and long-term, sustainable solutions.

“Back in 2012, the Chinese government announced its first centennial goal of completing the task of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by the end of the decade. To meet the target, both the national and local authorities have carried out an array of customized plans and targeted measures for different localities, and offered the ‘teaching-one-to-fish’ kind of assistance to the impoverished, so that they can capitalize on their strength to get rid of deprivation.

“Those measures include launching workshops and recruitment campaigns, setting up online platforms for selling agricultural products from poverty-stricken areas and developing tourism for mountainous villages. The success of China’s poverty alleviation efforts depended on a strict, standardized, quantified and transparent poverty alleviation process that is consistent across the country. To make sure that those who have been lifted out of poverty will not be snapped back into impoverishment, China has also decided to set a five-year transition period for counties already out of poverty and gradually shift the policy focus toward comprehensively promoting rural vitalization”, he related.

Continuing, Maoming said that China’s strenuous poverty eradication efforts are aimed, in essence, at ironing out social inequality step by step, so as to ensure stability and build a fairer and more inclusive society.

“For regions mired in deep poverty, the Chinese government has mobilized a host of resources and pool strengths to improve services in education, healthcare, housing and drinking water, so as to narrow the wealth gap between remote, less developed areas and cities, as well as to ensure that the poor can also get a share of the dividends of a moderately prosperous society, he also disclosed.

He however, pointed out that, poverty remains a chronic and complicated problem facing hundreds of millions worldwide as wealth gap and the North-South divide continue to grow, not forgetting also the root cause, which lies in the world’s expanding development deficits.

“The international community should work together to promote global cooperation in poverty alleviation, so as to close the divide between developed and developing countries, boost common development for humanity and push forward economic globalization in a more open, inclusive, equitable and balanced way.

China has been constantly bolstering South-South cooperation to help developing countries relieve debt pressures and mitigate poverty. It has signed debt service suspension agreements with 12 African countries and provided waivers of matured interest-free loan for 15 African countries. It has also suspended more debt service than any other member within the Group of 20 framework.

In the long history of the human race over the millenniums, ending poverty and building better lives have always been a shared goal worldwide. China’s historic progress in poverty eradication has renewed the hope that terminating privation is possible as long as real and effective actions are taken. As long as the world community can be determined and united, the anti-poverty miracle that has happened in China can also be repeated in other parts of the planet”, Maoming submitted.

By Vera Samuel Anyagafu

Vanguard News Nigeria