What lessons can be learnt from Chinese miracle of poverty alleviation?

Chinese President Xi Jinping had promised his nation to eradicate absolute poverty in China by 2021, the 100th Birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Prima facie, it may have seemed a tall claim. A nation that was born destitute in 1949, ravaged by the wars against Japanese imperialism, the Second World War and 1945 onwards fighting against the Kuomintang, who had the support of the Occident, which was afraid of the rise of Communism. The Kuomintang were defeated and driven out but before they left, they plundered the national treasury and torched the crops. To add insult to injury, the world turned its back upon the People’s Republic of China, treating it as a pariah, sans diplomatic ties, recognition and prohibiting even humanitarian agencies from providing much needed support. Left to fend for themselves, the Chinese suffered the worst famine in recorded history and it is a remarkable phenomenon that the CPC pulled its teeming millions, out of the morass.

In this bleak backdrop, China’s meteoric rise to become the second largest economy in the world was a marvel. Other countries too have had incredible changes of fortune, some with the discovery of fossil fuels or rich minerals, while a few benefitted from their strategic location. Such spectacular rise in many, has had its downside that it created two distinct strata of society, the upper and the lower class, the middle class disappeared because there was no equitable distribution of wealth.

Learning from the adverse experience of others, the Chinese leadership resolved to build a moderately prosperous society instead of some entrepreneurs becoming filthy rich while others languished in poverty. Sound planning, astute implementation of the strategy succeeded in a country, which is nearly the size of a continent and has challenging locations ranging from arid deserts to towering mountains, ravines and inclement weather. To make the achievement of the lofty goal even more daunting, the global pandemic Coronavirus struck in early 2020. The timing of the epidemic striking China and the world made it even more intimidating. Lunar New Year and Spring Festival is a major celebration for the Chinese just like the festivity of Christmas or Eid. Chinese take time off to go home and be with their loved ones for this grand occasion. It goes to the credit of the Chinese government that it canceled the 2020 celebrations, forced a lockdown and quarantined the sick and established hospitals and treatment centers.

The economy suffered a major blow because of the pandemic but China continued to support its own citizens, as well as reaching out to others in need and continued the quest of developing a potent vaccine against COVID-19. Amidst these Herculean Tasks, it is creditable that the Chinese leadership managed to achieve its aim of eradicating absolute poverty ahead of the target set.

The monumental feat was accomplished through relentless efforts and needs to be emulated by other nations desirous of combating the scourge of destitution and creating a moderate middle class society.

Since China’s success comes a decade ahead of the poverty reduction goal set by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has declared that China’s poverty reduction experiences “can provide valuable lessons to other developing countries.” According to Xinhua’s opinion piece: ‘China’s poverty fight renews hope for global anti-poverty’, the major ones are: First and foremost, China’s struggle for poverty alleviation epitomizes the people-centered philosophy of the Chinese government.

In 2020, all of China’s nearly 100 million impoverished rural residents living below the current poverty line cast off poverty after eight years’ efforts. Moreover, people in 98 percent of poor villages in areas of extreme poverty now have broadband access, which has vastly narrowed the urban-rural digital gap.

At the same time, China has built 1,290 innovation and entrepreneurial platforms in poor areas and sent 289,800 sci-tech experts to rural areas since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

According to “Chinese Poverty Alleviation Studies: A Political Economy Perspective,” a report published by New China Research, a Chinese think tank, China’s eradication of poverty has been an enigma for foreign scholars. They have summarized the solution as “5Ds”— Determined Leadership, Detailed Blueprint, Development Oriented, Data-based Governance and Decentralized Delivery.

Back in 2012, the Chinese government announced its first centennial goal of finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by the end of the decade. To meet the target, both the central and local authorities have carried out an array of customized plans and targeted measures for different localities, and offered capacity building to the impoverished, so that they can capitalize on their strength to get rid of deprivation.

Those measures include launching workshops and recruitment campaigns, setting up online platforms for selling agricultural products from poverty-stricken areas and developing tourism for mountainous villages. It’s thus understandable why Martin Riser, country director for China at the World Bank, once called China’s poverty reduction “a growth story.”

It is believed that the success of China’s poverty alleviation efforts depends on a strict, standardized, quantified and transparent poverty alleviation process that is consistent across the country, according to Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation.

To make sure that those who have been lifted out of poverty will not be snapped back into impoverishment, China has also decided to set a five-year transition period for counties already out of poverty and gradually shift the policy focus toward comprehensively promoting rural vitalization.

Last but not least, China’s strenuous poverty eradication efforts are aimed, in essence, at ironing out social inequality step by step, so as to ensure stability and build a fairer and more inclusive society.

For regions mired in deep poverty, the Chinese government has mobilized a host of resources and pool strengths to improve services in education, healthcare, housing and drinking water, so as to narrow the wealth gap between remote, less developed areas and cities, as well as to ensure that the poor can also get a share of the dividends of a moderately prosperous society.There are ample lessons here for all; both the opulent nations as well the developing ones.