Targeted Poverty Alleviation
The concept of Targeted Poverty Alleviation was first raised by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, to combat poverty in China.
Targeted poverty alleviation plays into China's poverty alleviation strategy, and is to contribute to the Party's century goal of "comprehensively building a "moderately prosperous society" that is the first objective of Xi Jinping's agenda of the Four Comprehensives. In his speeches, Xi Jinping emphasizes that without solving the poverty problem in rural areas, China cannot become a moderately prosperous society.
The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy was officially adopted by the Chinese government in 2014. Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, said in his government report in March 2014, "local governments need to merge poverty alleviation resources….and take targeted measures to ensure that assistance reaches poverty-stricken villages and households."
China's poverty line
In November 2011, then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced that China was raising the poverty line from RMB 1274 to 2300. More than 128 million Chinese were living under that line, which meant they could only spend 1 US dollar per day.The World Bank's international poverty line was $1.90 US dollars per person, per day in 2011 purchasing power parity.
In 2015, the central government of China revised the poverty line, ruling that people with an annual income of less than 2800 RMB were in absolute poverty.
The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Campaign
In 2015, the government of the People's Republic of China initiated the "Decisions of the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council on Winning the Battle of Poverty Eradication" with the aim to lift 70 million of the rural population above the poverty line until 2020. Consequently, the PRC endeavors to bring one million people per month and 30,000 people per day out of impoverishment.The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy functions as a high-profile political campaign with leading groups on poverty alleviation established at all administrative levels. The campaign is accompanied by a book collecting General Secretary Xi Jinping's quotes on poverty alleviation published by the CCP. The campaign-based approach is a common mechanism in Chinese politics in order to achieve highly prioritized political objectives within limited time.
For the respective campaign, a significant amount of financial resources has been pooled: For 2019, the Chinese government has allocated 91 billion RMB to poverty alleviation funds. Additionally, the China Development Bank has pledged 400 billion RMB for the combat of poverty. Besides through the remarkable financial commitment, the PRC also mobilizes large parts of the political system as well as of the private sector to achieve its objective of poverty alleviation.
A national poverty registration system
In January 2014, the Central People's Government of the PRC published the "Opinions on Innovative Mechanisms to Promote Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development". In order to find the "real poor" and "really alleviate poverty" the state planned a national database where every poor household is registered, where their progress can be tracked and where they can be "managed dynamically". By 2019, the system registered data of 128,000 villages and 290,000 households. It identified Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan as the most poverty-stricken areas."Decisions of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council on Winning the Battle of Poverty Eradication"
In November 2015, the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development adopted the "Decisions of the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council on Winning the Battle of Poverty Eradication", emphasizing the urgency of poverty alleviation in China. The guiding principles of the Decisions are the following:1) The Four Modernizations of former core leader Deng Xiaoping;
2) The thinking of the "three representatives" ;
3) Hu Jintao's concept of scientific development, including economic production, cultural development and political consensus;
4) The spirit of the series of keynote speeches by General Secretary Xi Jinping around the Four Comprehensives:
- Comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society;
- Comprehensively deepening the reform;
- Comprehensively governing the nation according to law;
- Comprehensively and strictly governing the Party.
The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Poverty Alleviation
In December 2016, the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Poverty Alleviation", proposing to adhere to the combination of targeted assistance and overall regional development, and to promote the implementation of a number of poverty alleviation projects.The "tough battle" against poverty
In October 2017, Xi urged "all-out" efforts to fight the "tough battle" against poverty. Two months later a statement was issued after the Central Economic Work Conference which also targeted poverty alleviation as one of three "tough battles" to win on the following three years, along with major risk control and pollution prevention.Significant measures were applied to reach the goal. Banks were encouraged to give microloans to farmers. Rural cooperatives were set up in many places allowing farmers to put together their resources to raise production.
"Guiding Opinions on the Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Battle against Poverty"
In August 2018, the CCP Central Committee issued "Guiding Opinions on the Three Year Action Plan to Win the Battle against Poverty". The opinions emphasize three major objectives for the last three years of the battle:1) consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation;
2) ensure that there are no more poverty-stricken counties and raise the per capita income of the rural population;
3) establish and enhance basic public services in rural areas.
Targeted Poverty Alleviation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
In a speech in March 2020 on the 'Symposium on the decisive battle and decisive victory in the fight to get rid of poverty', Xi Jinping stated that the CCP's goal to lift all of the PRC's population out of poverty until 2020 was still within reach – even with increased obstacles due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Xi also emphasized that the achievement of this goal in 2020 would not mean an end to the party's efforts. A transitional period and enhanced control mechanisms might have to be put in place to prevent unsustainable poverty alleviation and to expose fake poverty alleviation.This sentiment is also reflected in Li Keqiang's statement during a press conference in the course of the 13th National People's Congress in May 2020. Li also spoke about the increased difficulties posed to the CCP's commitment for 2020. But he also stated that with increased efforts by all government levels and the deployment of security and rescue funds, getting rid of poverty within 2020 was still the unchanged goal for the CCP.
Outlook
Around 30 million people will still be waiting to be lifted out of poverty by 2020. Those left behind will face the most difficulty getting over the poverty line. Many live in very remote areas, which lack the resources needed to develop. These people will need to be relocated. Between 2016 and 2020, the government plans to relocate 9.8 million people, most of them from western provinces. Some are disabled or seriously ill and rely solely on government allowances.Political actors and structures
Xi Jinping
has been one of Xi Jinping's priorities. The CCP set 2020 as the year that the country should wipe out poverty and become a moderately prosperous society or xiaokang. Xi has said that "no one should be left behind on the road towards xiaokang."China's official media reports that Xi has toured dozens of impoverished villages since he took office as CCP general secretary in 2012, "sharing his rich experience in poverty eradication work and putting himself on the front lines of the war on poverty." In November 2013, he paid an inspection visit to Xiangxi, Hunan province in central China. During his tour to Shibadong village in Xiangxi, Xi asked the local government to take measures to "keep track of every household and individual in poverty to verify that their treatment is having the desired effect."