Poverty Relief a 'Solemn Pledge'
China will be able to fulfil its commitment to providing adequate food and clothes to most of its impoverished rural population by 2000. People from all over China should join in the effort to win final success in the ambitious goal of eliminating poverty, President Jiang Zemin said on June 9 in Beijing.
He made the remarks at the two-day national working conference on combating poverty. The Chinese government has always dedicated itself to the poverty-eradication campaign since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Jiang pointed out.
Achievements in this respect have been most significant during the past 20 years, which witnessed a sharp decline in the number of poor people.
By providing adequate food and clothes to the majority of the impoverished population, the drive has laid a solid foundation for China to head toward a more prosperous society.
China's anti-poverty campaign is a great social undertaking, which shows the determination of the Party and the government to guarantee people's fundamental human rights, the rights to subsistence and development, Jiang said.
By lifting more than 200 million people out of poverty on our own strength, China has made significant contributions to the global human rights cause, Jiang said.
He noted the rapid economic development and social stability China has experienced during the past decades would have been impossible without the poverty-elimination project launched on an unprecedented scale across the country.
Improvement in people's living standards and progress in economic strength achieved noticeably in border and minority nationality areas gave contributed to national unity and peace along the Chinese borders.
Jiang described the plan to rid most of the rural population out of poverty by 2000 as a "solemn pledge" made by the Party and the government.
China must and can fulfil this strategic target, he stressed.
However, he noted the anti-poverty campaign has entered its most difficult stage, as the remaining 42 million impoverished people mostly live in extremely harsh natural conditions with no convenient transportation.
To ensure basic living standards for 20 million of these people within two years poses a great challenge to poverty-relief workers, Jiang acknowledged.
Nevertheless, Chinese people should pool their efforts and wisdom to win this uphill battle.
Tapping the potential of the domestic market should always remain part of the country's long-term development strategy.
Poverty-relief projects will help stimulate demand on the domestic market and inject fresh vigor into the country's economic growth.
The anti-poverty campaign should be integrated into the country's efforts to accelerate economic construction in central and western China and to narrow the gap between the more prosperous eastern regions and the less-developed western areas, Jiang said.
To this end, China will make a huge investment and speed up infrastructure construction, environmental protection and natural resources development in the central and western regions.
Meanwhile, the eastern regions are required to extend financial as well as technical assistance and help residents in the central and western regions improve their living and working conditions.
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