China resolute to win fight against poverty amid epidemic control

By Gu Zhongyang, People’s Daily

China is resolute in winning the fight against poverty this year while fighting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic as it plans to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

The country has demonstrated strong endogenous power for poverty relief when impoverished people worked with poverty alleviation cadres to eradicate poverty and overcome the impact of the epidemic since its outbreak.

In Changxi village, Haikou, south China’s Hainan province, Wang Chuanshu and other four villagers who are out of poverty formed an anti-epidemic volunteer team. “Favorable policies have helped us shake off poverty, and now we want to contribute our part to the prevention and control of the epidemic,” Wang said.

“I stayed home for over a month during the epidemic. Thanks to the charted buses arranged by local government, I returned to work. I’m confident to shake off poverty this year,” said Yu Randuo from Huaping village, Lanping county, southwest China’s Yunnan province.

Wang Tongbian, an impoverished farmer from Yuma village, Sanjiang county in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has planted tea-oil trees with the help of the poverty alleviation working team stationed in the village. “As long as we join the efforts and fight the epidemic and poverty, we can surely become rich through tea-oil tree planting,” Wang said.

Such stories on the front line of epidemic control in poverty-stricken areas are heart-warming and encouraging.

China’s impoverished regions have witnessed tremendous changes thanks to the country’s targeted poverty alleviation campaign since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

Over the past years, about 2.78 million officials and 435,000 first Party chiefs in charge of poverty alleviation have offered pairing assistance to help the impoverished shake off poverty. Through their hard and sincere work, numerous people have been lifted out of poverty and lived a happier life.

Enjoying better living standards, people who are out of poverty have volunteered to join the fight against the epidemic, which demonstrates their appreciation of the Party’s favorable policies and officials’ efforts from the bottom of their hearts.

Some may ask whether China can ensure the final victory over poverty this year because the epidemic has impacted employment of impoverished rural labor and made it difficult to increase the income of the impoverished through the development of industries.

Under the current trends, the outbreak’s influence on China’s poverty alleviation efforts is partial and short-lived, which will not change the overall process. Seven provincial regions with their poverty incidence rate above one percent are less affected by the epidemic.

By the end of last year, the number of rural residents living below the current poverty line dropped to 5.51 million. In recent years, China has lifted an average of 13 million people out of poverty every year. At its current pace, the country has the capacity to complete poverty alleviation tasks by the end of the year.

What's more, China has basically completed the top-level design for poverty alleviation and formed a pattern of poverty relief through special programs, development of industries and participation of all social sectors.

Last year, the country’s poverty alleviation funds exceeded one trillion yuan. This year, it will continue to allocate more funds for the purpose. It will assign responsibilities more clearly. This year, secretaries of Party committees at all levels will supervise poverty alleviation work in 52 poor counties and 1,113 impoverished villages.

The country has also cultivated an indispensable “iron army” of poverty alleviation officials with impeccable conduct on the front line of the fight against poverty. All these factors provide strong support for the final victory in the fight against poverty.

A united and shared aspiration from the top to the bottom will be invincible. China’s epidemic control and prevention are now at their toughest and most critical period, so is its battle against poverty. China will surely win the fight against the disease and clinch a complete victory in eradicating poverty, as long as it implements all prevention and control measures down to the last detail, never wavers in its resolve to reach its poverty alleviation objectives, sticks to overall arrangements, and forms strong synergy between officials and the masses.

Photo taken on April 25 shows roads in a village of Songtao Miao Autonomous county in Tongren, southwest China’s Guizhou province, which provide convenient transport for villagers. Photo by Long Yuanbin, People’s Daily Online