• About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Write for us
  • Contact
  • Terms of service
Saturday, May 28, 2022
The Millennial Source
TMS
Home WORLD

China may be on the verge of ending absolute poverty

byMorgan Phillips
October 13, 2020
in WORLD
China may be on the verge of ending absolute poverty

Source: Reuters

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin
Despite the criticism and doubts, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his administration have stood firmly behind the plan, which Xi staked his legacy on fulfilling in 2017.

Having made remarkable progress toward eradicating poverty over the past seven years, China is reportedly in its final push to achieve a definitive and absolute victory over severe wealth inequality despite the economic impact of COVID-19.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is at the forefront of this push. During an inspection tour in 2018, Xi declared to villagers that “To lead the people to a better life is our goal. Not a single ethnic group, family or person should be left behind.”

However, Xi is hardly China’s first leader to pledge a “war on poverty.”

In 2007, then-President Hu Jintao also vowed to “reverse the growing income disparity” within China. However, a report from the Communist Party-run newspaper China Daily three years later found the income gap to have reached record levels under Hu’s authority. This finding was subsequently echoed by late Premier Wen Jiabao in 2011.

Now, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has again reiterated these promises in 2014, stating that “China will wage a war against poverty with a stronger resolve.” Li’s push sought primarily to transfer China’s population from rural to urban areas, a move that he hoped would lead to more desirable living standards for China’s rural poor and boost national consumerism.

However, the Chinese government’s approach has received criticism. 

In a report by The New York Times, substantial issues were documented with the strategy, including poor construction and few jobs in the feigned urban areas. Concerns over moving small farmers from their land and its effect on China’s food security were also raised.

Furthermore, the report notes that if China’s economic growth continued to slow (as it had begun to in previous years), so too would the fiscal “trickle-down” to individual assets. Should the country’s income growth slow too quickly, domestic consumption would reach a standstill that would in turn endanger China’s economic rebalancing.

As the coronavirus pandemic came into full swing, this is precisely what happened. 

In the first recorded reduction in China since before institutions of the Mao-era were removed in the late 1970s, economic data revealed that China’s economy had shrunk 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020, during which around 460,000 Chinese businesses closed.

Some critics even argue that this data is inaccurate and that the true estimates are underrepresented. JP Morgan predicts that by comparison, the US economy will contract by 40% in the second quarter of this year. 

“The epidemic and floods in summer have been big challenges, but we are very confident that we can reach the poverty alleviation target this year,” said Hong Tianyun, deputy head of the State Council’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. And thus, despite the criticism and doubts, Xi and his administration have stood firmly behind the plan, which Xi staked his legacy on fulfilling in 2017.

The plan to alleviate absolute poverty 

In the five years of Xi’s first term, 13 million people were lifted out of poverty each year on average, according to government data. His plan targeted more than 43 million people who lived on fewer than 95 cents a day, the established poverty-level set by the Chinese government. Five years earlier, about 100 million people lived below that line, according to official statistics.

According to the World Bank, nearly 500 million – or about 40% of China’s population – still live on less than US$5.50 per day.

The plan to address this crafted a variety of approaches, including allocating tens of billions of dollars and more than US$370 billion in microloans for villagers. In doing so, Xi instructed officials to focus on alleviating poverty in rural areas where farming conditions are poor, access to essential social services is limited and residents struggle with medical ailments but lack access to a hospital.

Adopting a slightly decentralized approach, around 775,000 officials were sent to villages to implement government measures designed to alleviate poverty. Officials identified each household deemed to be impoverished with a clear sign by their entrance and the name and telephone number of a public servant or staff of a state-owned enterprise paired up to help the household.

Officials are even empowered to resettle villagers against their will, hand out cash subsidies and vigorously follow Xi’s call for a “targeted” approach, with many tracking individual residents’ progress on massive bulletin boards in town centers.

Xi’s administration would then judge these officials on their success in improving living standards to meet President Xi’s 2020 deadline. Throughout this period, more than 1,800 people were investigated last year for embezzling antipoverty funds and related corruption, according to official statistics.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) punished nearly 400 government officials for embezzlement or misuse of poverty alleviation funds, all of whom were poverty alleviation authorities at the provincial, city, or county levels. Half of these identified officials were department directors, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.

Critics remain skeptical

Some scholars have responded to the plan by casting doubt on the reliability of the data. In 2019, Xiang Songzuo, an economist and professor at the School of Finance of Renmin University, said that official statistics do not give an accurate picture of China’s economic affluence.

According to Xiang, when he visited these rural areas and spoke with people, the “local government officials are much more frank about the fact that their regions are experiencing negative growth.” Shortly after, his comment was removed from the internet.

Xiang believed some local officials might have understated poverty rates amid intense pressure to meet President Xi’s targets.

However, some critics believe that China falsely reporting data goes further than economics, questioning the integrity of the majority of the country’s data, including, more recently, coronavirus reporting.

According to an analysis by Radio Free Asia, officials may have vastly underreported the official death toll in Wuhan.

So far, the pandemic has resulted in more than thirty-six million confirmed cases and over one million deaths worldwide. The United States has had nearly 7.6 million confirmed cases and over 210,000 of the world’s deaths.

China, where the virus originated, has revealed surprisingly modest statistics. As of September 28, China reported a total of 90,993 infections and 4,746 deaths, figures that some analysts believe to be inaccurate.

Other critics, however, are less concerned about data and more focused on the plan’s specifics, suggesting a lack of consideration for urban areas where many people still struggle to receive adequate education and health care and where many often live in subpar conditions.

The Chinese president’s comment about not leaving “a single ethnic group, family or person … behind” has also resulted in a backlash, with critics citing the active suppression of ethnic groups by the government, most specifically citing the continued construction of concentration camps in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has reportedly detained at least one million Muslim Uighurs.

Have a tip or story? Get in touch with our reporters at [email protected]

Like TMS? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter

Related

Tags: Asiaeditors picksLonger read
ShareTweetShare

Latest Posts

China proposal

China proposes economic and security agreement to 10 Pacific nations

May 27, 2022

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warns against excluding China from regional summits

May 27, 2022
Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific seeks to rehire ex-staff as part of airline’s “anticipated recovery”

May 27, 2022

HSBC is said to be considering IPO of Indonesian business

May 27, 2022

Hong Kong customs seizes illegal smoking products worth millions after e-cigarette ban

May 26, 2022

Several key takeaways from Biden’s trip to Asia

May 25, 2022

What you need to know about the changing egg freezing laws in Singapore

May 25, 2022

Airbnb closing domestic operations in China to focus on outbound travel

May 24, 2022

US would respond “militarily” if China tries to take Taiwan by force, says Biden

May 24, 2022

SUBSCRIBE TO THE TMS NEWSLETTER

By providing your email, you agree to our Privacy Policy

The Millennial Source Ltd. 2021

No Result
View All Result
  • Your daily briefing
  • About us
  • Explore
    • Startups
    • Climate change
    • Tech giants
    • Crypto
    • The future of work
    • Banking giants
    • Economy
  • Lifestyle
  • TMS archives
  • Write for us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy & Terms

© 2022 The Millennial Source Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

string(24) "jsonld single post debug"
The Millennial Source
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.