On 16 July 2020, China Daily carried an article by SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov, on China's achievements in eliminating poverty.
The article highlights the results of economic reforms, agricultural development, tourism, and a special regard for education and healthcare, as well as infrastructure modernisation, which made it possible to pull over 800 million people out of destitution, cutting poverty by almost 95 percent.
"Education and a healthy population that has enough to eat are influencing factors in the rate of return on investment. These things were key in launching the process of rapid development and poverty elimination. This is why from the start of the reforms, China was aware that a focus on education levels and stronger health were the only things that could help eradicate poverty and stop the cycle of "poverty transfer" from one generation to the next," Vladimir Norov stressed.
As an example, he cited the fact that over 10 million people, or 10 percent of the poorest population, were able to move above poverty levels with the help of tourism industry between 2011 and 2014. Literacy levels grew from 65.5 percent in 1982 to 96.8 percent in 2018 (given the average world indicator of 86.3 percent).
"At the start of this century, less than one-third of China's population had access to medical insurance. Starting in 2006, China has been implementing crucial reforms to make healthcare more accessible," he said, adding that these reforms had provided nearly 800 million rural residents with basic multi-level medical insurance and that it now covers nearly 100 percent of the population.
According to Secretary-General Norov, another factor of success in China's war on poverty is the innovation development model it has implemented. For example, China is using advanced information and communications technologies to provide remote regions with an e-trade system and other modern technology applications that make it easier for poor areas to find markets for their agricultural products.
The 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in December 2018 approved a resolution on the eradication of rural poverty, which included China's concept and knowhow in targeted poverty reduction.
The article also focuses on the scale of poverty in the world and the need for countries to exchange best practices in the area of poverty elimination. In this context, China's record shows how important it is to concentrate on identifying the base causes of poverty and create conditions that enable the population to address this difficult problem on their own.
For full text, see ChinaDaily website