BEIJING (CHINA) – President Xi Jinping of China celebrated “complete victory” in the bid to do away with rural poverty during a ceremony in Beijing on Thursday. It was held to commemorate a signature initiative of his eight-year tenure.
State media credit Xi’s government with uplifting as many as 100 million people from abject poverty, a milestone he had proclaimed in December and kept as a birthday gift for this year’s 100th anniversary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
During a speech that lasted an hour, Xi hailed the testament to the party’s leadership and the advantage of China’s political system.
“The CCP’s leadership and China’s socialist system are the fundamental guarantees against risks, challenges and difficulties,” he said in the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital. He also presented medals to significant individuals who took part in the fight against poverty.
According to global policy experts, China has set a low bar when it comes to defining poverty with sustained investment required to fund continued development in its poorest areas.
The nation defines extreme rural poverty as annual per capita income of less than 4,000 yuan ($620), or about $1.69 a day in comparison with the World Bank’s global threshold of $1.90 a day.
The president said the government had invested 1.6 trillion yuan in fighting poverty over the past eight years.
A “No. 1 policy document” was released on Sunday in which the nation pledged to stick with its poverty alleviation policies. It also made some adjustments for a five-year transition towards “rural revitalisation” as termed by Beijing.
