BEIJING, Feb 25, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday
declared his country had achieved the “human miracle” of eliminating extreme
poverty, though questions continue to surround the Communist Party’s criteria
for making the claim.
In a glitzy ceremony in Beijing, Xi bestowed medals on officials from rural
communities, some wearing traditional ethnic-minority attire, and promised to
share this “Chinese example” with other developing nations.
“No other country can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty
in such a short time,” Xi said.
“A human miracle has been created that will go down in history.”
China last year claimed it had achieved its long-trumpeted goal of lifting
all of its people above a poverty line of $2.30 in daily income.
That is slightly above the World Bank’s lowest threshold of $1.90, but
below what is recommended for higher income countries.
The World Bank says China has lifted more than 800 million people out of
extreme poverty since turning to market reforms in the 1970s, after decades
of state planning and ill-advised Maoist campaigns that had stifled the
economy.
China is now “providing help to developing countries” still struggling
with poverty, Xi said.
In 2015, Xi vowed to eradicate extreme poverty by 2020, a pillar of the
Communist Party’s goal to build a “moderately prosperous society” by the
100th anniversary of its founding later this year.
Ahead of the deadline, the government poured billions of yuan into
infrastructure like roads and modern apartment buildings, and offered tax
incentives and subsidies to impoverished rural communities.
The standard of living in China has indeed changed dramatically since the
1970s, with hundreds of millions living consumer lifestyles that past
generations could not have imagined.
But Beijing’s claims have met with scepticism.
Critics have pointed to the relatively low poverty line, claims of
corruption cases linked to poverty funds, and perennial questions over
whether official data is massaged to meet party political objectives.