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More cash allotted to cut poverty
By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-12-17 23:56
China is determined to continue its offensive against the abject poverty
which continues to blight millions of lives.
And building on its past experience and sinking more funds into the fight are
key, said Liu Jian, the head of the country's poverty action taskforce on
Friday.
The World Bank, which provided US$427.5 million in loans for the
just-concluded China Southwest and Qinba Mountains Poverty Reduction Projects,
has also pledged its continued support.
By the end of last year, the number of Chinese rural people lacking adequate
food and clothing dropped to 29 million from 250 million in 1978, a feat World
Bank President James Wolfensohn hailed as "having no parallel in human history."
But Chinese leaders are determined that past successes do not bring about any
let up or lead to complacency.
"We must be clearly aware that the country's poverty alleviation situation
remains extremely severe," warned Liu, head of the State Council Leading Group
Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
Liu was speaking at a gathering in Beijing to mark the completion of the two
projects.
His concerns are not unfounded and the nation's remaining poverty is widely
believed to be deeply entrenched.
The bulk of the poor live in remote and desolate places in the harshest
natural conditions, some virtually uninhabitable, said Liu.
And natural disasters, which strike at random, have the greatest impact on
those who have just climbed above the poverty line -- in China those with an
annual per capita income not exceeding 625 yuan (US$75) -- putting them back in
dire straits, said Liu.
"As a result, progress in poverty alleviation has markedly slowed (in recent
years)," he added.
A 10-year rural poverty alleviation and development programme which runs
until 2010, aims to resolve food and clothing problems for those in poverty and
establish infrastructure to enable the most destitute regions to rise to
moderate prosperity.
The expertise and experience China has accumulated over past years and gained
from foreign countries will help, he said.
World Bank-funded projects had drastically improved food security and living
conditions in 61 of China's poorest parts of Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan,
Shaanxi and Ningxia regions and provinces.
The projects contributed to developing an effective multi-sector approach to
poverty reduction, involving improved labour mobility, better poverty monitoring
systems, and greater participation of the poor themselves in project design and
implementation, World Bank President Wolfensohn said in a statement.
Lessons from those ground-breaking projects will be shared in other poverty
alleviation efforts in China, said Jiang Xiaohua, another official with Liu's
office.
With China's economy ever prospering, government at central and local levels
will earmark more funds and mobilize other resources to tackle the country's
poverty woes, said Liu.
But he did not specify how much will be spent next year tackling it.
This year's budget for poverty relief programmes from central government
increased 800 million yuan (US$96 million) year on year to hit 12.2 billion yuan
(US$1.4 billion), according to sources with Liu's office.
In a congratulatory message sent to Friday's gathering in Beijing,
Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said for the most part China needed to rely on its own
efforts to cut poverty. But it would also seek to expand co-operation with
international organizations to that end.
Wolfensohn said the World Bank would continue to work with China and is
preparing the next generation of projects aimed at eradicating poverty and help
bring greater levels of prosperity to the country.
Alan Piazza, a senior World Bank task manager, on Friday said a priority of
future projects in China will target the poorest and most remote ethnic minority
people.
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