Stanley Loh: China Will Totally Eradicate Absolute Poverty

Stanley Loh, Singapore’s Ambassador to China described China’s achievements in poverty alleviation over the past 30 to 40 years as “very remarkable”, saying he has every confidence that China will totally eradicate absolute poverty.

 H.E. Loh Ka Leung, Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to China 

“I think it’s very remarkable what China has achieved over the last 30 to 40 years in terms of poverty alleviation. I know that China is just a little bit short of its first centennial goal, to totally eradicate absolute poverty. I have every confidence that China will achieve this; probably a little before the deadline of 2020,”said Stanley Loh.

China has set to eradicate the absolute poverty by 2020 as one of its centennial goals, which is 10 years earlier than that of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Beyond China’s own experience, in the world we still see poverty in other parts. There is a lot China can share with the rest of the world on the experience and what China has done, the ambassador said. It is not only about economic development, it is also about how to educate the different segments of the population and reduce the disparity in incomes, he added.

The Chinese government and other stakeholders have been concentrating on alleviating poverty for many years. Since 1978, China has lifted almost 800 million people above the poverty line after it implemented reform and opening-up, creating a China Miracle among the human history of the poverty alleviation in the world, making its own contribution to the Millennium Development Goals and adding China’s wisdom into poverty alleviation experience for the world.

According to the ambassador, another area that Singapore and China can cooperate on in the future is that“we can share experiences on how we meet the growing desire of our peoples for a better quality life”.“This is the new challenge for China. It is also a challenge for Singapore,”he said,“because every time we achieve a target, new aspirations will emerge. There is a lot we can learn from each other in this aspect.”