China's Achievements in Poverty Alleviation Highlight Policy Advantages

According to the United Nation’s The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, China alone accounts for almost two thirds of the total reduction in the number of undernourished people in the developing regions since 1990. Chinese President Xi Jinping points out that to build a well-off society in an all-round way is a solemn promise to the people.“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,”Xi said in a report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2017.

 H.E. Newai Gebre-ab, Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has lifted nearly 800 million people out of poverty and has created a miracle in the world’s history of poverty reduction. China’s huge achievements have not only made great contributions to the realization of global poverty alleviation goals, but have also helped developing countries, including Africa, to explore poverty reduction and development paths that are suitable for their own national conditions. Accordingly China has won high praise from many African officials.

Splendid Achievements under the CPC Leadership

Hon. Mbelwa Kairuki, Ambassador of Tanzania to China, attributes China’s success to the Communist Party of China and its successful leadership. He has learnt from media coverage that President Xi Jinping and other leaders have put more focus on people, and frequently visited the grassroots where programs of poverty alleviation are being implemented.“This is a lesson to most developing countries,”he said.“People make mistakes by sitting just in the office and design policies of poverty alleviation which don’t work.”

Targeted Poverty Alleviation–A New Idea for Africa

While addressing the 2017 Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference, Hon. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius, stated,“I should stress here that China is an outstanding example of how a country can achieve significant drop in poverty with improved economic performance…I would like to make a solemn appeal to all participants from China and Africa to pledge for the sharing of knowledge, experience and best practices.”

Ziggy Adam, Principal Policy Analyst in the Office of the Secretary of State for Poverty Alleviation, Seychelles, believes that the development path of Hainan Province in China is a good example for small island countries to learn from. He hopes to learn quickly and comprehensively from China’s experience through the Global Poverty Reduction & Inclusive Growth Portal, and is willing to have dialogues with China in various forms.

Sino-African Cooperation in Poverty Reduction and Development

Being developing countries as China is, African countries can refer to and learn from China’s experience in poverty alleviation. Many African officials expressed their hope to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in this regard.

Hon. Marie Roland Alain Wong Yen Cheong, Minister of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment of Mauritius, said at the 2017 Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference,“Given the remarkable achievements of the People’s Republic of China in poverty reduction, many developing countries are eager to learn from and be inspired by the Chinese model. International communities are increasingly recognizing the importance of the sharing of experiences and best practices in developing effective policies and strategies to combat poverty. Mauritius is also looking forward to learning from the Chinese experiences.”And he called on China and African countries to share experience in poverty reduction and cooperate in development to deepen China-Africa friendship.

During an exclusive interview with China.org.cn, Mcebisi Skwatsha, Deputy Minister of the Rural Development and Land Reform of the Republic of South Africa, acknow‍ledged that China is remarkable for not only taking its people out of poverty, but also assisting Africa in particular to get out of poverty.“China has invested so much making sure that Africa and South Africa do benefit in getting out of poverty,”he said.“We have learnt a lot, and we are going to take some of the things we learnt from here and implement them all.”Skwatsha also urged the BRICS to strengthen cooperation in the field of poverty reduction.

Ato Newai Gebre-Ab, Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Executive Director of the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, pointed out in an interview with China.org.cn, that China’s achievement is fantastic and almost miraculous.“To be able to reduce poverty in a substantial way, two things should achieve. First is fast economic growth; and second is broad-base growth, a growth course which brings as much as possible to the majority of the population.” “China, as a friend of Africa, and also as a friend of Ethiopia, is very much key to help African countries grow and also reduce poverty. This is very highly appreciated by African countries,”he added.