【苍南县】Targeted Poverty Alleviation – China shows the way to out of poverty

戴菲菲 2021-09-14 09:42:33

Recently, the documentary “Up and Out of Poverty” which explores the inside story of China’s successful eradication of extreme poverty, has attracted great attention from mainstream media in the United States, Britain and other western countries. Poverty has been a chronic disease of human society for a long time and now a common challenge facing the whole world. Poverty and related issues, including hunger, disease and social conflict, are serious obstacles to people's pursuit of a better life. As the largest developing country in the world, China completed the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty by the end of 2020. Based on the reality that China had 98.99 million people living under the poverty line on 2012, this achievement not only reflects China’s unremitting efforts, but also reveals a feasible answer for how to liberating human from poverty.

In its poverty elimination effort, China has actively learned from international experience and launched a series of guidelines and measures to increase efficiency. Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) put forward by the Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013 has become the fundamental strategy for tackling poverty. TPA mainly includes “six targets”, namely, targeted objects, targeted projects, targeted use of funds, targeted measures for each household, targeted village-based poverty relief cadres and targeted poverty alleviation results. Looking back on the great achievements that China has reached, following factors cannot be ignored. Firstly, the strong leadership is the key to delivering the policy. Relying on the CPC's political and organizational strength, China has established a poverty eradication management network with the central government acting as coordinator, provincial governments taking overall responsibility, city and county governments overseeing implementation. Secondly, the human resource committed to this campaign is another reason towards the success. In total, China dispatched more than three million outstanding Party members and cadres to work in around 128000 poverty-stricken villages.

Indeed, China is the first country to achieve the poverty alleviation goal set in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through Targeted Poverty Alleviation, China has not only eliminated absolute poverty in its own country, but has also made great contributions to the global poverty alleviation. For example, the implementation of the China-Africa cooperation plan has boosted Africa’s economic developments and improved its economic situation. Another wonderful example of China contributing to global poverty reduction is that China have carried out over 5000 assistance projects overseas. Although China has made some progress on against poverty, the key challenges remain. On the one hand, even if absolute poverty is completely eliminated, there will still be relative poverty or some households may fall back into poverty. On the other hand, how to continue to promote the effective connection between comprehensive poverty alleviation and rural revitalization is also a question worth considering.

Removing the label of absolute poverty is not the end, but the beginning of a new life and a new journey. To consolidate and expand the poverty alleviation achievements, rural revitalization will be the future priority for the Chinese government. As for next decade, China will spare no effort to implement the strategy of rural revitalization, promote stable agricultural development and increase farmers' incomes. Eradicate rural poverty by steady rural reform, China is showing and sharing the world a special way to out of poverty.