China will work harder to eliminate poverty over the next five
years as the country still has about millions of rural people
living in absolute poverty, said a senior Chinese official
Thursday.
Poverty elimination remains an arduous long-term task for China,
as its rural areas still have a large number people living in
poverty, said Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu, at a seminar on poverty reduction
held in Beijing.
He said China will continue to allocate more money to poverty
elimination, while encouraging society, such as businesses, to
actively participate poverty reduction.
In 1986, China began a large-scale poverty reduction program
across the country by setting up special institutions, allocating
special funds and formulating preferential policies.
By the end of 2005, the country's rural population living in
absolute poverty, as defined by those with a per-capita yearly net
income of less than 683 yuan (US$84), had been reduced to 23.65
million, official statistics show.
The rural population, with a per-capita yearly income between
683 yuan and 944 yuan (US$115) was 40 million, according to the
statistics.
China's poverty elimination program has entered a critical
stage, and it is extremely important for the country to effectively
eliminate poverty, said Hui.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2006)