An official of the State Council’s poverty alleviation office said Tuesday, Dec. 15, that economic cooperation between China and neighboring countries can boost the country’s poverty alleviation campaign by providing job opportunities to the poor, the Global Times reported.
The statement was made by Su Guoxia, an official with the State Council's poverty alleviation office, at a news conference when asked about why China has helped poor people in other countries while over 70 million of its own people live below the poverty line.
China has been making efforts to reduce its own poverty level while cooperating with some less-developed countries by sharing experience and providing aid with the best it can give, said Liu Yongfu, head of the State Council's poverty alleviation office, speaking at the same news conference.
Liu said that China's own fight against poverty also received support from international organizations and foreign countries in the early years of the country's opening-up and reform.
China has lifted 790 million rural people out of poverty since the end of the 1970s, contributing over 70 percent of gains to the worldwide poverty alleviation efforts, he said.
"As the world's second-largest economy and a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China should share responsibility for alleviating poverty, on the basis of properly handling our own affairs," Liu said.
According to the report, China has pledged to lift 70 million poor people out of poverty by 2020, at the completion of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
Liu revealed that China's poverty line is set at around 3,000 yuan ($464) in annual per capita income this year, which was 2,300 yuan in 2010.
Liu added that China's poverty line is slightly higher than the World Bank's standard as national poverty line in 2014 was 2,800 yuan, which equaled $2.20 per day in purchasing power parity, higher than the World Bank's latest standard of $1.90 per day. He said the national poverty line rises every year in line with price and cost of living indexes, he added.
In November, President Xi Jinping said that "no single poor region nor individual living in poverty will be left behind" when the country accomplishes the goal of "building a moderately prosperous society" by 2020.