China's New Contributions to Global Poverty Reduction

By Huang ChengweiChina International Poverty Reduction Center

China's New Contributions to Global Poverty Reduction

By Huang Chengwei
China International Poverty Reduction Center

For the past 30 years， Chinese poverty alleviation achievements have promoted the global rapid decline of poor population， facilitated the realization of the process of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the steady improvement in the Global Human Development Index. Currently， Chinese targeted poverty alleviation is a new exploration in the history of human poverty reduction， will help relieve all poor population of poverty by 2020 and at the same time， will take significant advantages of the Chinese political system in the effective implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and making new contributions to world poverty reduction.

Since the reform and opening， China has gained remarkable achievements in development-oriented poverty alleviation. According to the World Bank's poverty standard （1.25 USD per day per person， at 2005 PPP） from 1981 to 2011， global poor population decreased by 927 million from 1938 million to 1011 million， while Chinese poor population decreased by 753 million from 838 million to 84.17 million.

The World Bank comments that China has relieved so many people of poverty in such a short period of time， which is unprecedented for mankind， and that is it not for China's endeavors， poor population in developing countries wouldn't decrease so fast in last 20 years of 20thcentury. UN Food and Agriculture Organization （UNFAO） Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that China's efforts are the most important factor in reducing global poverty and hunger population in a signed article titled with Lessons Learned from China's Success in Poverty Reduction in March 2013 on Xinhua net.

China is the first developing country to have achieved the Millennium Development Goals of halving poor population. Chinese poor population reduced by 439 million from 1990 to 2011， making huge contributions to the global poverty reduction. Since 2004， China's grain output increases for 11 consecutive years，having supported about 20% of the world population with no more than 10% of the world cultivated land. While having achieved its own development， China actively carries out South-South cooperation and provides assistance within its capacity for more than 120 developing countries in implementing the Millennium Development Goals.

China's Human Development Index rapidly rises by 43% from 0.505 in 1990 to 0.719 in 2013， 25.4 percentage points higher than the global Human Development Index over the same period. China's Human Development Index has exceeded the international average of 0.702， and continued to promote the steady improvement in the Global Human Development Index.

Experiences in Poverty Reduction Provides Reference Mode for Developing Countries.

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark wrote that China had relieved her people of poverty at an unprecedented speed， and called upon all states to share China's experience in poverty reduction. Under the context of globalization，China's poverty reduction and development create a development-oriented poverty alleviation road with Chinese characteristics，take promoting economic development as a driving force and enhancing the self-development capacity of poverty reduction targets as a fundamental way； combine government-led role， social assistant role and farmers' main body role， match inclusivepolicies with preferential policies， link poverty alleviation with social security system， and provide a reference mode for developing countries to achieve economic transformation and poverty eradication. Chinese poverty reduction experience includes the following：

First is to adhere to reform and innovation，maintain sustained and steady economic growth，constantly introduce social policies to benefit development of poor areas and poor population and lay the foundation and provide condition for massive poverty reduction.

Second is to adhere to government leadership， include development-oriented poverty reduction into overall national development strategy， promote it as a strategic task， concentrate on organizing extensive special poverty alleviation actions， and organize and implement development plan for of specific groups such as women， children， the disabled and ethnic minority.

Third is to adhere to development-oriented poverty alleviation policy， promote poverty reduction with development， regard development as the fundamental way to resolve poverty problem， pay attention to mobilize initiative of poverty alleviation targets， enhance their development capacity to play a main role in poverty relief.

Fourth is to adhere to priority in development of agriculture， implement overall urban and rural economic and social development strategy as well as principles for industry to nurture agriculture， city to support rural areas and of “giving more， taking less and loosening control”， comprehensively promote the rural economic and social development and generally benefit poor areas and poor rural population.

Fifth is to adhere to infrastructure building， improve infrastructure such as roads，water， electricity， gas， housing condition and others in poor areas and create good environment for development for the poor population.

Sixth is to adhere to mobilizing communal participation， give play to superiority of the socialist system and construct a large-scale poverty alleviation pattern pushed by collaborative efforts of government， society and market.

Seventh is to adhere to combining inclusive policies with preferential policies， and linking development-oriented poverty alleviation with and social security system. On the basis of inclusive policies， special attention，concern and care should be given to the poor and preferential policies implemented for them and adherence made to help those poor who should be helped and protect those who should be protected.

Increase Aid to Promote the Cause of International Poverty Reduction and Development.

China within its capacity helps and supports developing countries， especially those underdeveloped countries， to reduce poverty and improve people's livelihood. From 2010 to 2012， China offered help to 121 countries in Asia， Africa and Latin America， and the amount of foreign aid reached 89.34 billion CNY. In addition， China also provides assistance to regional organizations such as African Union and others.

China's foreign aid mainly supports other developing countries to reduce poverty and improve people's livelihood， focusing on promoting agricultural development， improving education and health care condition，constructing social welfare facilities， and providing timely humanitarian aid to countries suffering from serious disasters. China has announced on 7 occasions to write off due interest-free governmental loans and debts to Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and Less Developed Countries under no conditions， with 30 billion CNY in total.

As a major responsible developing country，China vigorously promotes international development and provides a favorable environment for various countries to achieve poverty reduction and sustainable development. China has proposed to jointly build the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road， sponsored or co-sponsored the establishment of BRICS Development Bank and Silk Road Fund， proposed to build Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank （AIIB） and supported developing countries to constructinterconnect and interoperable infrastructure，promoted building a fair， equitable， inclusive and orderly international economic and financial system， created a favorable external environment for the development of developing countries and injected new vitality to international poverty reduction and development.

China focuses on strengthening the collective consultations with recipient countries at regional cooperation level， and makes use of regional cooperation mechanisms and platforms such as China-Africa Cooperation Forum and China-ASEAN Summit to announce several packages of aid measures and positively respond to different regional development needs. China is committed to mutual benefit and common development and link up development strategy to promote pragmatic cooperation in fields such as industry，agriculture， human resource， green energy，environmental protection and others.

China has actively participated in international exchanges in poverty reduction and development cooperation， strengthened the dialogue with other countries and international organizations and shared experiences in development cooperation. China has also actively participated in researches and discusses of global development issues. Chinese Government and relevant international organizations have jointly established China International Poverty Reduction Center， which is the international platform for exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction.

For the past ten years， all sides concerned have carried out a series of exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction through this platform. In the field of international development-oriented for poverty reduction，Chinese voice is heard， Chinese solution proposed， Chinese wisdom contributed and abundant experience of exchanging and sharing in poverty reduction for developing countries promoted. Besides， China has supported and participated in actions of multilateral development aid agencies through voluntary donations and equity financing and many other ways.

Targeted Poverty Alleviation Effectively Promotes the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

During the 13thFive-Year Plan period，China still faces arduous development-oriented poverty alleviation tasks， mainly manifested in five aspects： firstly， China's development-oriented poverty alleviation work has entered crucial stage of sprinting， gnawing hard bones and making the final up-hill task；secondly， from the poor household perspective，poverty is deep-rooted with complex causes and self-development capacity is in shortage；thirdly， from the regional development conditions， foundation is poor and momentum is inadequate； fourthly， in terms of social governance in rural areas， poverty reduction policy is more difficult to implement and effects indicate obvious constraints； fifthly， in terms of effects of implementing the policy，poverty alleviation policies are lack of targets and preferential support is not inadequate.

In view of poverty distribution characteristics， new challenges and problems China is facing， President Xi Jinping profoundly points out that：

Development-oriented poverty alleviation has advanced to the present stage， whose final success relies on targeting. It is not allowed to do things carelessly without purpose like flooding irrigation， looking at the flowers on horseback or killing flies by grenade.

Targeted poverty alleviation is to implement refined management for poverty reduction targets， implement detailed assistance for poverty reduction targets， implement precise configuration to poverty alleviation resources， and make sure that poverty alleviation resources are actually used on the poverty reduction targets in poverty-stricken areas.

It is necessary to increase capital investment and project support， implement targeted poverty alleviation and eradication and to carry out policies suited to different townships， villages， ethnic groups， and households. Support needs to be precise to the point and get deep enough to roots.

President Xi's thinking on targeted poverty alleviation reflects new requirements and newplan for development-oriented poverty alleviation work of the Central Committee of CPC since the 18thCPC National Congress， and reflects the most prominent features of poverty alleviation strategy at the present stage， which is the fundamental reform of the past untargeted working method.

Targeted poverty alleviation in terms of content means that poverty alleviation policies and measures aimed at the real poor households and population and adopting targeted assistance measures through analyzing causes of poverty and poverty relief needs to eradicate poverty causes fundamentally and achieve goals of sustainable poverty reduction. In order to win the hard battle against poverty in the course of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects， macro-control efforts should be strengthened and a series of targeted major development initiatives implemented. One of the focuses is to fully implant targeted poverty strategy.

Firstly， make efforts to identify targets to create data files and cards for the poverty-stricken people. In 2014， creating data files and cards for 832 counties， 128，000 villages， and 29 million households with more than 90 million poverty-stricken people is finished， regional distribution of the poor people is clarified， and preliminary analysis is made on basic characteristics of the poverty，the causes of poverty and poverty relief needs. Next steps is to establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism of poverty-stricken population，make analysis based on big data， improve quality of data files and cards and make the best use of outcomes of data files and cards to achieve precise targets for assistance.

Secondly， focus efforts on identifying the reasons and implementing policy in line with different categories， keep project arrangements and fund usage targeted. Targeted measures should be developed correspondent to the analyzed poverty-stricken causes，implementing policy in line with different categories be adhered and implement poverty alleviation funds and policy to each household and people. Poverty alleviation policy should be linked up with social assistance development policies such as security policy of minimum living standard， medical aid policy and others. Get some poverty-stricken people developed by supporting production and employment， some resettled by relocation，some relieved of poverty with education and training and some with ecological protection，and safeguard some with social security.

Thirdly， make great efforts to bring to play the major role of poverty-stricken people to achieve targeted poverty alleviation results. Adhere to respecting the dominant position and pioneering spirit of the poverty-stricken population， stimulate their endogenous dynamics of poverty alleviation， strengthen their ideological mobilization， enhance grass-root organizational building in impoverished villages and develop villages' collective economy. Bring to full play the role of the first secretary and village-based task force， mobilize enthusiasm of the poverty-stricken people， upgrade their right to information， participation and sense of achievement， encourage their self-reliance spirit and stimulate endogenous dynamics and vitality in poverty eradication.

Fourthly， make great efforts to implement broader social mobilization. Deepen， refine and detail targeted poverty alleviation work by Party and government offices， between Eastern-Western collaboration and participation of armed forces and armed police in poverty alleviation， and improve pertinence and effectiveness. Further mobilize broader participation of private economy， social organizations and individual citizens， and shape a poverty alleviation atmosphere that everyone is willing， able and allowed to help and generate powerful resultant for poverty alleviation campaign.

Fifthly， make great efforts to give play to political and institutional advantages. Adhere to poverty alleviation undertaken by Party sectaries at 5 levels together， give play to the leading role of government in poverty alleviation work， implement in earnest the main responsibility of poverty-stricken counties and poverty alleviation responsibility of industrial sectors. Station task force and first secretary to impoverished villages and establish a direct aid mechanism by village task force and the first secretary， and enable each village to have the first secretary and village task force stationed and each poor household has a person responsible for it until poverty eradication is achieved.