China releases guideline on overcoming difficulties in fight against poverty

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A guideline on the battle against poverty has been jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

The guidance underlines the challenges and difficulties of overcoming poverty, as the country still needs to lift more than 30 million people out of poverty in the next three years.

China has identified "reducing poverty" as one of its "three tough battles," alongside "preventing financial risks" and "tackling pollution."

Long Horn Miao Lunar New Year festival, Sugao village, Guizhou, China /VCG Photo

Formalism, bureaucracy, deception, impatience, sluggishness and corruption still exist in the work toward eliminating poverty, the document said.

The guideline said poverty relief work should be focused on areas in deep poverty, such as Tibet Autonomous Region, mountainous Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province and Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province.

Challenges remain for China's poverty relief fight: CPC Politburo

Officials who led the poverty-relief work visit a resident's house in Nanping City, Fujian Province, September 14, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

The roots of poverty include weak basic living conditions, developmental stagnation, and insufficient public services.

Targeted poverty relief work is stressed in the guideline with emphasis on fostering distinctive industries, supporting employment, advancing relocation, ecological restoration and strengthening education.

The guideline also lists other poverty alleviation measures, including accelerating infrastructure construction in poor areas, increasing fiscal and financial support, social mobilization, strengthening and improving Party leadership in poverty reduction.

Over the past 5 years, more than 68 million people have been lifted out of poverty, including a total of 8.3 million relocated from inhospitable areas, and the poverty ratio has dropped from 10.2 to 3.1 percent, according to this year's government work report.

(With input from Xinhua Agency)