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SCIO briefing on white paper 'Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and Contribution'

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Shangyou News:

My question is about how poverty alleviation has been promoted in ethnic minority areas and how poverty reduction achievements will be consolidated in these areas next? Thank you.

Wang Zhengpu:

Thank you for your questions. As one of the main battlefields in the fight against poverty, ethnic minority areas have long been lagging behind, and many such areas, in particular, have a small population and a weak foundation. We have paid great attention to these areas in the fight against poverty. Mr. Xia will give you more details in this regard.

Xia Gengsheng:

As we all know, China is a big family composed of 56 ethnic groups, sharing the common name of the Chinese nation. Our country has made unity and common progress as well as common prosperity and development the theme of the Chinese nation's work in the new stage for a new era. Regarding poverty alleviation, General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed on many occasions that no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This is a solemn commitment of the CPC. We can see it from three junctures. The first is the eight-year poverty alleviation campaign. During this period, China has always made ethnic minority areas and ethnic minorities the key areas and key groups of its poverty elimination endeavors and has adopted targeted strategies to consistently support them. For example, the central government has allocated nearly 300 billion yuan in poverty alleviation funds, or 45% of the country's total, to the eight provinces and autonomous regions with large ethnic minority populations (Guizhou, Yunnan, and Qinghai provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) over the past eight years. In addition, integrated government funds for rural development in the eight provinces and autonomous regions made up 39% of the country's total. Meanwhile, support in finance, land, human resources, and other aspects have also been weighted toward these regions, providing a strong guarantee for winning the battle against poverty in ethnic minority areas.

The second juncture was on June 23, 2017, when General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, on poverty alleviation in severely impoverished areas. According to issues discussed during the symposium, most ethnic minority areas were considered severely impoverished areas. The "three areas" (Tibet Autonomous Region, the Hotan, Aksu, Kashgar prefectures and the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture in southern Xinjiang, and prefectures and counties with large Tibetan populations in the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai) and the "three prefectures" (Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, and Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu) were made the key battlegrounds for the elimination of poverty. That meant that new poverty reduction funds, projects, and measures were weighted toward these regions. It is fair to say that through extraordinary support, severely impoverished areas have accelerated in casting off poverty and no longer drag national efforts down.

The last important time is 2020, final year for winning the battle against poverty. In the year, we speeded up our efforts to lift the remaining 52 impoverished counties, mostly located in ethnic minority areas, out of poverty. This was considered the last task for eliminating extreme poverty. After relentless efforts, extreme poverty was eliminated among all minority ethnic groups including 28 with small populations. Some ethnic groups, still at the later stage of primitive society when the PRC was founded in 1949, have now been enabled to make the great leap to socialism and, then again, great strides towards achieving moderate prosperity in all respects. General Secretary Xi Jinping's solemn promise that no ethnic group should be left behind on the way to eliminate poverty has been fulfilled. Per capita net income of the poor in the five autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia and Xinjiang) and the three provinces with a large multi-ethnic population (Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai) have increased significantly, breaking through the 10,000-yuan mark at the end of last year. This was higher than the income level for the poor registered under the national system of identifying people in need to know whom to help. This is a hard-won achievement. Social and economic development in ethnic minority areas have accelerated notably, basic living and working conditions have improved and tremendous changes have taken place. People of minority ethnic groups now have a much greater sense of gain, happiness and security. We visited some of those freed from poverty in Liangshan last week. Their happiness could be seen on their faces. This is a very big change in recent years. According to third-party evaluation, by the end of 2020, the average satisfaction level of the general public for the poverty elimination work in the aforementioned eight provinces and autonomous regions was above 94%, showing the battle against poverty is a project beneficial to the wellbeing of the people winning their heartfelt approval.

To consolidate the results of poverty elimination, we will continue to prioritize ethnic minority areas and their people as we move forward. We will make targeted efforts in the following respects: First, we will work to ensure that the support policies for formerly impoverished groups will be effectively implemented in all ethnic minority areas. Just as my colleagues said a moment ago, we will make sure that people do not sink back into poverty in large numbers. Second, we will continue to strengthen preferential treatment to ethnic minority areas. For key counties in the rural vitalization program, again mostly located in ethnic minority areas, we will adopt preferential policies and give concentrated fiscal, financial, land, talent, infrastructure and public service support to strengthen their points of weakness at a faster pace and improve their development capacity. In addition to these counties, the government will also support the whole of Tibet and Xinjiang to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation and promote rural vitalization. Paired assistance for Tibet, Xinjiang and the prefectures and counties with large Tibetan populations in the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai will remain unchanged. Third, we will further increase budgetary input. During the period of grace, fiscal investment will remain stable and composition of fiscal spending will be optimized.

With these measures, we hope to ensure no ethnic minority area and people will be left behind in the efforts to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation and good performances will be delivered in pursing common prosperity. Thank you.