CHINA’S battle against poverty has benefited the largest number of people in human history. To sustain poverty reduction gains, China has focused more on achieving endogenous development in areas that have been lifted out of poverty and introducing vigorous measures to support rural revitalization. China’s goal is to achieve common prosperity and high-quality development including through the rural revitalization strategy with a focus in five key areas: industry development, human capital, culture, ecological environment and local governance.
China achieved its goal of poverty reduction in the new era as scheduled. Chinese have accomplished the arduous task of eliminating extreme poverty and made a significant contribution to global poverty reduction. Going forward, China will continue to sustain and expand the gains in poverty alleviation and comprehensively realize rural revitalization. China will ensure that sound fiscal policy measures will be made and implemented to support the transition. Chinese government stands ready to continue strengthening cooperation with the World Bank in relevant areas.
China’s poverty reduction story is a story of persistent growth through economic transformation. As China’s economy adjusts to a new low carbon growth model, its social policies will need to be adapted to support greater labour mobility, upgrade skill levels in line with shifts in labour demand and offer improved social protection to ensure a just transition.
China’s approach to poverty reduction has been based on two pillars. The first was broad-based economic transformation to open new economic opportunities and raise average incomes. The second was the recognition that targeted support was needed to alleviate persistent poverty; support was initially provided to areas disadvantaged by geography, the lack of opportunities and later to individual households. China’s development points to a number of lessons for other countries. The entire world, especially Pakistan, can benefit from China’s experience of successful poverty alleviation. Very wisely, China paid importance to modern technological education, an outward orientation, sustained public investment in infrastructure, and structural policies supportive of competition.
How the success of China’s economic development and the associated reduction of poverty benefited from effective governance, which helped coordinate multiple government agencies and elicit cooperation from non-government stakeholders is a matter of concern. To illustrate the role of broad-based economic transformation in poverty alleviation, we need to analyze growing agricultural productivity, incremental industrialization, managed urbanization, rural-to-urban migration and the role of infrastructure. The evolution of China’s approach to poverty alleviation, from place-based to country-wide social protection policies and the targeted poverty alleviation strategy since 2012 are marvellous and unmatched.
The probable future structural shifts in China’s growth model, involving a shift towards consumption, high-value services and the pursuit of carbon neutrality, along with their implications for China’s forthcoming policy agenda, underscore the necessity of bridging remaining gaps in the quality of education between rural and urban areas. Additionally, there is a need to enhance social protection for migrant workers and explore opportunities for better integration of various existing social security policies.
China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen a positive trend in economic development and people’s livelihoods have significantly improved. Development is the crucial foundation for the region’s long-term stability. Chinese President Xi Jinping demands law-based governance and long-term efforts to develop Xinjiang into a region that is united, harmonious, prosperous and culturally advanced, with healthy ecosystems and people living and working in contentment.
Xinjiang has made great achievements in its social and economic development and different groups of people in the region are having a stronger sense of achievement, happiness and security as their livelihoods significantly improved. China has been strengthening support to the region both from the central government as well as other regions for helping its economic development, employment, education, healthcare etc.
Through proactive labour and employment policies, Xinjiang has continuously improved people’s lives and guaranteed and developed their human rights in every field. The poverty eradication in Xinjiang had seen remarkable achievements. Almost four million people have been lifted out of poverty in the region, roughly one-seventh of its population. China’s ethnic work has turned out to be a success regarding the overall improvement of Xinjiang’s development and people’s livelihoods, noting that the success in Xinjiang is due to the combined results of strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and concerted efforts of the Chinese people.
—The writer is editor, book ambassador political analyst and author of several books based in Islamabad.
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