Xi urges increased efforts to fight poverty

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday listened to a work report on poverty alleviation and called for enhanced efforts to win the battle against poverty in the next three years.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, gave the instruction at a symposium on poverty alleviation in southwest China's Chengdu City.

"To win the battle against poverty is one of the three battles proposed during the 19th CPC National Congress," he said. "We need to realize the difficulties and problems in winning the battle, and to improve the quality of poverty reduction, focus on the most impoverished areas and push forward the battle of poverty alleviation."

Xi listened to reports and advice from local officials in China's poverty-stricken western and southern regions, and had a discussion with them on poverty alleviation issues.

Xi Jinping pays New Year's greetings to the people at Zhanqi Village of Pidu District in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Feb. 12, 2018. /Xinhua Photo

Decisive progress has been made as China has exerted unprecedented efforts in fighting poverty, said Xi, who attributed the success to the CPC's leadership, targeted strategies, strong financial support and strict requirements for poverty elimination works.

During the poverty alleviation campaign, China has built a poverty relief system with Chinese characteristics, contributing wisdom and solutions to global poverty reduction, he said.

Pointing out the challenges lying ahead, Xi said in the next three years, over 30 million people should be lifted out of poverty.

He cited a number of undesirable practices – formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucracy, falsification and slackness – and called for persistent efforts to fight all kinds of challenges and hardships.

The Chinese government defines poverty as having an income of less than 2,600 yuan (377 US dollars) per year. China aims to eliminate poverty by 2020 as part of the creation of a moderately prosperous society. The country's poverty rate dropped from 10.2 percent in 2012 to 3.1 percent in 2017 as 68.53 million people were lifted out of poverty.

(Cover image: Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, visits the homes of impoverished villagers of the Yi ethnic group who live deep in the Daliang Mountains of Zhaojue County, Sichuan Province in southwest China, Feb. 11, 2018. /Xinhua Photo)