Preface Significance of China’s Achievements and Experience in Poverty Reduction to the World
Wang Linggui
Chief Expert and Researcher, National Institute for Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences （CASS）
Poverty is a major challenge that seriously hinders the progress of human society and a common problem facing the whole world. The favorable effects of poverty reduction and governance that the People’s Republic of China has achieved since its founding are not only a glorious front in the thousands of years of development of the Chinese nation, but also a new great miracle in the history of development and poverty reduction for the world. Moreover, it is also one of China’s most important contributions to the world. Scientific summary of the valuable experience of poverty reduction and development with Chinese characteristics is of great practical significance for promoting high-quality economic and social development in China at a new historical starting point and contributing Chinese wisdom to the global realization of the poverty reduction, which is one of the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, on November 1st and 2nd 2018, the Chinese Government and the World Bank jointly convened the International Forum on Reform and Opening Up and Poverty Reduction in China in Beijing, to sum up China’s achievements and experience in poverty reduction and its significance to the world.
At the forum, all participants spoke highly of China’s experience in poverty reduction and its significance to the world. According to Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, China has adopted a strategy of placing equal emphasis on development and poverty reduction. He said, “China has not only increased the average income of its people and lifted them out of poverty, but has also raised the level of infrastructure construction and public services to provide better social security for its people and prevent them from returning to poverty. Chinese leaders have promised that no one is left behind on the way to a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and in shaking off poverty and realizing prosperity. This is a very important commitment if sustainable development is to be achieved.” K.V. Kamath, the president of New Development Bank said the “Last Mile” connection plan launched by China enabled the most remote mountainous areas to have access to infrastructures, such as roads. These experiences are publicized all over the world. And the mobile payment platform in China provides more people with opportunities to develop and lift themselves out of poverty, especially for those in rural areas. “China attaches great importance to education and the development of human resources. China is not only determined to reduce poverty, but also, more importantly, has actions and initiatives to realize the goal.” Besides, Akmal Burhanov, director of the Uzbek Center for Strategic Development said, “Uzbekistan should learn from China, including providing low-income families with affordable housing. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have shaken off poverty and have a better-off life. This is a remarkable achievement.”After learning about the poverty reduction work in Lankao County, Henan Province, Enclo Foy, from Cameroon, marveled, “China’s poverty reduction measures have been tailored to local conditions and are very targeted. Such achievements have won the admiration of the world.”
Moreover, Chinese and foreign scholars gathered in the forum, discussed China’s achievements and experience in poverty reduction and its significance in the world from the perspectives of China’s achievements in poverty reduction, global governance, and development, the future of international poverty reduction and the implementation of UN Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda. The scholars made painstaking investigation, and careful and detailed analysis, drew on the wisdom of the masses, and concluded a summary in a systematic way. They looked back into the past 70 years, and looked forward to the future, forming rainbows of brilliant ideas worthy of attention and reference.
China has formed a systematic and sustainable theoretical system of effective poverty reduction. Since the founding of PRC, the Chinese government has always attached great importance to the cause of poverty reduction. Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping, and other leaders have made profound thinking and systematic explanation on strengthening the governance of poverty, improving people’s lives, and achieving common prosperity. And they have creatively combined the poverty reduction theory of Marxism with the actual reality of Chinese revolution, construction, and reform, gradually explored a road of poverty reduction and development suitable for China’s national conditions and socialist system, and formed the Marxist poverty reduction theory and experience with Chinese characteristics.
China has made unprecedented achievements in poverty reduction. In the 70 years since its founding, one of the greatest achievements China has made is the sharp decline in the number of people living in poverty. In 1978, the Chinese government at that time decided those who lived on less than 100 yuan per year were in poverty. Following this standard, 250 million Chinese people, or 30.7 percent of the total rural population, were living in poverty without adequate food and clothing. In 1984, the standard raised to 200 yuan per person per year, while the number of people living in poverty dropped to 128 million, and the incidence of poverty dropped to 15.1 percent. In 2010, the standard rose to 1,274 yuan per person per year, whereas the number of poor people in rural areas still fell to 26.88 million from 94.22 million in 2000. Accordingly, the incidence of poverty dropped from 10.2 percent in 2000 to 2.8 percent in 2010. In 2011, based on 2010 constant prices, China again raised the standard to 2,300 yuan per person per year, equivalent to $1.8 per person per day, higher than the international poverty standard of $1.25 per person per day set by the World Bank in 2008. Under the new poverty standards, the number of poor people in rural areas has continued to decrease drastically. In November 2015, the Chinese Government issued the Decision on Winning the Fight Against Poverty, specifying the overall goal of tackling poverty. From the end of 2015 to the end of 2018, the number of poor people in rural areas dropped from 55.75 million to 16.6 million, the incidence of poverty dropped from 5.7 percent to 1.7 percent, and the per capita disposable income of rural residents in poor areas increased from 7,653 yuan to 10,371 yuan.
What China has achieved in poverty reduction have broken the “magic spell” that poverty cannot be eliminated. From 1981 to 2013, the number of people living in absolute poverty, defined by World Bank standards as those earning less than US $1.90 per day （constant prices in 2011）, decreased from 1,893 million to 766 million, while that of China decreased from 878 million to 25.17 million. China contributes 75.7 percent of the total poverty reduction. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China （CPC）, with firm confidence, China has stepped up efforts to speed up poverty reduction and strived to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020 through targeted poverty reduction. Cai Fang, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that under higher poverty standards, the number of poor people in rural areas dropped from 122 million in 2011 to 43.35 million in 2016, an average annual decrease of 15.81 million, breaking the “law” of diminishing marginal effect of poverty reduction. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said in a congratulatory letter to the forum “I welcome the progress China has made in promoting sustainable development, and China’s experience is a valuable asset. I see that China is firmly committed to cooperating with other developing countries, and I support China in continuing to play a leading role.”
The Thought on Targeted Poverty Reduction is another theory that China contributes to the global cause of poverty reduction. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has historically put forward the goal of eradicating absolute poverty by 2020, placed poverty reduction and alleviation in an important position of governing the country, and explicitly incorporated poverty relief and development into the overall layout of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan （a plan to promote coordinated economic political cultural social and ecological advancement） and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy （to make comprehensive moves to 1. finish building a moderately prosperous society; 2. deepen reform; 3. advance the law-based governance of China; and 4. strengthen Party self-discipline） for decision-making and deployment. In November 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the concept of targeted poverty reduction for the first time when he visited Xiangxi Prefecture of Hunan Province to investigate the work in poverty reduction and development. He pointed out, “poverty reduction should be realistic and tailored to local conditions. Poverty reduction should be targeted, and we should never shout slogans or set ambitious goals.”[1] Since then, every time General Secretary Xi Jinping goes to the grass-roots level for investigation, he takes poverty reduction is an important component, and continuously enriches and develops the essence and ideas of targeted poverty reduction. Xi has successively put forward the following important thoughts, “fine management, precise allocation and targeted support”, “ targeted selection of supporting people below the poverty line, targeted project arrangement, targeted use of funds, targeted measures to households, targeted personnel tailored to villages, and targeted results in poverty reduction”, and “help some get developed through supportive production and employment, resettle some through relocation, and lift some out of poverty through ecological protection, through education, and through subsistence allowance. Some important ideas were put forward, such as relocation and resettlement, ecological protection, poverty reduction through education, and minimum living standard insurance policy. In the report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly pointed out, “we should mobilize the energies of our whole Party, our whole country, and our whole society, and continue to implement targeted poverty reduction and alleviation measures. We will operate on the basis of a working mechanism whereby the central government makes overall plans, provincial-level governments take overall responsibility, and city and county governments ensure implementation; and we will strengthen the system for making heads of Party committees and governments at each level assume the overall responsibility for poverty alleviation. We will continue to advance poverty reduction drawing on the joint efforts of government, society, and the market. We will pay particular attention to helping people increase confidence in their own ability to lift themselves out of poverty and see that they can access the education they need to do so. We will strengthen collaboration on poverty alleviation between the eastern and western regions and; we will provide focused assistance to areas of extreme poverty. We must ensure that by the year 2020, all rural residents living below the current poverty line have been lifted out of poverty, and poverty is eliminated in all poor counties and regions. Poverty alleviation should reach those who truly need it and deliver genuine outcomes.”[2] The remarks above fully show that Xi Jinping’s Thought Targeted Poverty Reduction not only determines the basic strategy, working mechanism, key tasks and overall goal of tackling key problems in poverty reduction in the new era, but also provides action guidance and fundamental principles for winning the battle against poverty. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the poverty reduction and governance system in China has been innovated and perfected, targeted poverty reduction theory has been enriched and developed, and the ability of poverty reduction has been gradually improved. The transformation from “flood irrigation” to “drip irrigation” has been realized. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have made decisions and issued supporting documents to win the battle against poverty, and the Ministries and Commissions under CPC Central Committee and the State Council have issued more than 100 policy documents or implementation plans covering poverty reduction through developing competitive industries, relocation, exporting labor service, improving education, providing better healthcare and offering financial service. During the six years from 2013 to 2018, more than 13 million people were lifted out of poverty annually in China, totaling over 82 million. For six consecutive years, the income growth of the poor population was higher than that of the national average per capita income of farmers, with the incidence of poverty falling from 10.2 percent to 1.7 percent. Eight of the nine provinces and cities in eastern China have completely eliminated the poverty population if judged by the national standards.
China has made a great contribution to the global cause of poverty reduction. As the largest developing country in the world, China has been an active advocate and strong promoter of the cause of poverty reduction in the world for past 70 years, and it is also the first developing country in the world to achieve the poverty reduction goal set in the Millennium Development Goals （MDGs）. International poverty relief organizations including the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program, as well as the vast number of developing countries both have highly praised the achievements China has made in poverty reduction, and some developing countries beset by poverty are eager to learn from China’s effective experience in poverty governance. UN Secretary-General Guterres once said that China has undoubtedly delivered a satisfactory report to the world in the field of poverty eradication, and China’s most important contribution to poverty eradication is “the achievements made by itself.” The New York Times indicates that the drastic decline in the number of people living in extreme poverty should give credit to China’s economic progress. The Huffington Post reports an article saying that the world’s poverty reduction achievements “owe most to China, which owes its remarkable achievements to its economic progress and the efforts made by the government in reform.” The above comments make it clear that China, as a responsible country with the most remarkable results in poverty reduction and abundant experience in poverty reduction, is increasingly highly appraised and fully affirmed by the international community. General Secretary Xi Jinping states, “poverty eradication is a shared mission for mankind. Over the past 30 years since the Reform and Opening-up, China has explored a path of poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics. While committed to eradicating poverty, China is actively carrying out South-South cooperation, working together to overcome difficulties, supporting and assisting developing countries in eradicating poverty and bringing greater well-being to their peoples, especially the least developed countries.”[3] Over the past 70 years, while striving to handle its own poverty issue, China has always supported and helped developing countries especially the least developed countries to eradicate poverty through various means, such as non-reimbursable assistance, assistance or aid in project construction, low-interest loans, and personnel training. China has provided more than 400 billion yuan in aiding over 160 countries and international organization, dispatched more than 600,000 aid workers around the world, and unconditionally exempted the interest-free loans borrowed by the least developed countries, heavily indebted poor countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing countries that have diplomatic relations for seven times, as well as assist more than 120 developing countries in implementing the Millennium Development Goals. In addition, since China participated in international medical assistance in 1963, more than 23,000 doctors have been sent to foreign countries. The medical teams have traveled to developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania. Since 2005, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation （CFPA） has carried out humanitarian emergency relief and long-term development assistance projects in more than 20 countries and regions, with a total investment of more than 160 million yuan, benefiting about 450,000 persons-time.
China is lighting the torch of hope to lift all the poor out of poverty. In the new era, China takes on the responsibility of building a community of shared futures for mankind and actively contributes to the Chinese approach to the global cause of poverty reduction. China has proposed a series of new mechanisms for international cooperation on poverty reduction, including “the establishment of the Assistance Fund for South-South Cooperation and Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development”, “the establishment of a new type of international exchange and cooperation relation on poverty reduction with win-win cooperation as the core”, and “efforts to achieve diversified, autonomous and sustainable development”. Such cooperation mechanisms for poverty reduction are different from the traditional aid mechanisms established by Western countries, for it has no attached political conditions, and takes full account of the real needs of the recipient people in a participatory manner. These mechanisms have been widely and positively responded to and highly praised by the United Nations and developing countries. In addition, China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, which also aim to support developing countries in building connected infrastructures, enhancing their own development capacity, and better integrating into global economic chains, industrial chains and value chains, as well as to inject new vitality, impetus and hope into the international cause of poverty reduction.
China will continue to work closely with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and makes efforts in reducing poverty worldwide. In the congratulatory letter to the forum, President Xi Jinping points out that “China is ready to work with all parties to advance the global cause of poverty reduction, and achieve the poverty reduction goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” On 25 September 2015, the United Nations Forum on Sustainable Development adopted an outcome document, namely, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was agreed upon by 193 Member States. The agenda includes a programmatic document of 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets aiming at eradicating extreme poverty, combating inequality and injustice and curbing climate change. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development listed “end poverty in all its forms everywhere” as the first of the 17 sustainable development goals, which indicates that poverty has become the most difficult problem in the world’s development. In April 2016, China published China’s Position Paper on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to implement the UN 2030 Agenda. The document sets out the principles, positions, and means of implementation for China’s participation in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The general principles are the principle of peaceful development, the principle of win-win cooperation, the principle of integration and coordination, the principle of integration and coordination, the principle of sovereignty and voluntary action, the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities. The major means of implementation are to strengthen capacity building, create an enabling international environment for development, strengthen development partnerships. Besides, China has established several funds including the Assistance Fund for South-South Cooperation and signed the China-UN Peace and Development Fund agreement with the UN. In September 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs again released China’s Progress Report on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2019, in which it pledged to speed up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at home and achieve “early harvests” on a number of sustainable development goals. By the end of July 2019, the Chinese Government had signed 195 cooperation documents with 136 countries and 30 international organizations, making an important contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. China has actively promoted South-South cooperation and provided assistance within our capabilities for other developing countries in achieving sustainable development goals through such platforms as the China-UN Peace and Development Fund and the Assistance Fund for South-South Cooperation, as well as through bilateral channels. China has fully implemented the China-Africa Cooperation Plan for Poverty Reduction and Benefiting the People and implement 200 Happy Life Projects. In 2018, 39 pro-poor capacity-building training sessions were launched for 1,440 people in developing countries. As Comrade Huang Kunming, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and head of Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, said at the Forum, “China is ready to work with all parties to uphold the concept of a community of shared future for mankind, speed up the process of global poverty reduction, and work together to build a better world free from poverty with shared prosperity.”
Without the Communist Party of China, there would be no splendid achievements in poverty reduction in China, and poverty reduction in the world would be dim and dark. Since the founding of the PRC, the Chinese Government has faced many doubts. When PRC was just founded, some people in other countries viewed China with suspicion, “the Communist Party scored 100 points militarily, 80 points politically, but 0 point economically.” In the early years of Reform and Opening-up, some foreigners comment arrogantly that “to make a 180-degree turn in a very short time for a populous nation, it is just like making an aircraft carrier circling on a coin.” But 70 years from then, the Communist Party of China has yielded a result that lives up to history and the people. The CPC has led the country from backwardness to progress, from an agricultural society that even imports nails and matches to the world’s second-largest economy, the world’s largest producer and the largest trading nation of goods, from feeding nearly a fifth of the world’s population on less than one-tenth of the world’s arable land to lifting more than 800 million people out of poverty... The CPC has forged ahead and led the people from poverty to prosperity. Jim Yong Kim, then president of the World Bank, believes that China’s success is due to two very important reasons. One is the massive increase in economic growth rate through Reform and Opening Up and; the other is the persistent efforts paid by the Chinese government to reduce poverty in the process of Reform and Opening Up. Jim added, “this is a rare achievement in history. It is of necessity to review this process, as it could help China better carry out its reform and help other countries learn from China’s successful experience.”
It is against the backdrop of this grand era that the International Forum on Reform and Opening Up and Poverty Reduction in China was held on November 1, 2018, sponsored by the Propaganda Department of CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Finance, Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of the State Council, and the World Bank, and co-hosted by International Poverty Reduction Center in China （IPRCC）, the China Development Bank and the National Institute for Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The forum convened more than 400 participants from 11 international organizations, including the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank of the BRICS countries, as well as think tank scholars, politicians, business leaders and representatives from 51 countries. Huang Kunming, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and head of Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, attended the opening ceremony, read out a congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping and delivered a keynote speech. UN Secretary-General Guterres also sent a congratulatory letter to the Forum. President of the World Bank, Administrator of the UN Development Program and Managing Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development addressed at the opening ceremony. Prior to the forum, the foreign guests were invited to Shenzhen Guangdong, Guizhou and Bijie Guiyang, Yongning Ningxia, and Lankao Henan to see for themselves China’s great achievements in Reform and Opening Up, and poverty reduction.
To exhibit and document the grand event, the National Institute for Global Strategy, as one of the co-hosts of International Forum on Reform and Opening Up and Poverty Reduction in China and the sponsor of the Sub-Forum themed Think Tanks, published the papers delivered at the form of joint Chinese-foreign research reports. The research report collection is one of the latest international achievements in poverty reduction in China in recent years, a demonstration of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping embodied in the congratulatory letter for the opening ceremony of the forum, and a useful attempt to share China’s poverty reduction experience with other countries. Besides, it is also a sincere gift from the think tank to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, wishing our great motherland even greater prosperity, wishing our people a fairly well-off life out of poverty, and wishing a better life for the people of all countries who aspire to a better life.
Here are the sincere thanks to the Social Sciences Academic Press for its great support and hard work for the publication of this research report, which made the research results pass for the press.
7 October 2019
[1]He Yiting, New Ideas and Strategies of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the Core, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 103.
[2]Xi Jinping, Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2017, p. 47.
[3]“Xi Jinping attends the 2015 High-level Forum on Poverty Reduction and Development and delivers a keynote speech,” People’s Daily, October 17, 2015.