On February 11, China's President Xi Jinping visited Sanhe village in Sanchahe town of Zhaojue county, in the Daliang Mountain of Sichuan province.

It was no short ride, taking all of two hours by car from Xichang city. The president had gone there to visit poverty-stricken families of the Yi ethnic group, to see their living conditions and ask what they need.

Frankly, nothing about that trip was new, as he normally visits poverty-stricken areas during the annual Spring Festival celebrations, if only to let the poorest know they are not at all forgotten.

But long before becoming president, while governor of Fujian province between 1999 and 2002, Xi had been identifying with the poor – and initiated a unique approach to alleviating their conditions.

It all started in Minning, a small town in northwest China's Ningxia, where Xi pioneered a system which focused on the poor as individuals – and drew-up specific plans for each person based on their individual needs, rather than trying to help poor communities and hoping it would trickle-down to the poorest.

Today, Minning is a model town – and its model has been adopted nationally as China moves to eradicate poverty. Indeed, its application under Xi's presidency has yielded bountiful results. From 1980 to 2017, the number of people living in poverty across China has been reduced from 775 million to 30 million. From 2013 to 2017, however, the five-year figure was 66 million.

This tremendous feat was achieved, not through a mere declaration, but by the Party and state unleashing the human and financial resources, backed by forward central planning and clear political commitment.

In 2014, for example, some 800,000 persons were deployed across China to survey 128,000 targeted poor villages with a total population of 89.6 million people. The vast army of researchers was given only six months to report – and based on the findings, methods were recommended and prescribed, adopted and implemented.

Then, in November 2015, Xi set poverty alleviation as one of his presidency's main objectives, designating it as "the baseline task for building a moderately prosperous society," planned to be created through Socialism with Chinese Characteristics by 2020.

Currently, over 10 million Chinese are being taken out of extreme poverty annually – a success being applauded worldwide, even by those disagreeing with China's political ideology.

But China didn't do it alone. 

The World Bank has provided related funding support to China since 1996; and with World Bank and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) help, the International Poverty Reduction Center was established in China in 2004. The World Bank, UNDP, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Asia Development Bank have also been providing funds, ideas and technology to China.

China is in turn sharing both methods and resources with countries worldwide, especially least developed nations.

Published records show that in the last three decades, some 166 countries benefited from billions of dollars' worth of interest-free Chinese aid disbursed through 600,000 workers deployed internationally. Similarly, medical aid had also been extended to some 69 developing countries.

China has also assisted 120 developing countries to achieve their related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while continuing to share its vision and contribute to the achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The world ended 2017 with over 700 million people still living in extreme poverty; and China started 2018 with just over 30 million.

Poverty eradication continues to be the dream and goal of many governments and international institutions across the globe.

With China's targeted deadline now only two years away, it's a race against time. There are still major challenges to be overcome.

But, as was noted on April 28, 2017 by Ashwani Muthoo, director of the Global Engagement, Knowledge and Strategy Division of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) during an international seminar on Global Partnership for Poverty Reduction, "China's approach is both efficient and effective."

The theory and practice of China's targeted poverty reduction approach, therefore, clearly shows that with policy support and appropriate measures, it is indeed possible to eradicate poverty.

Earl Bousquet is a contributor to china.org.cn, editor-at-large of The Diplomatic Courier and author of an online regional newspaper column entitled Chronicles of a Chronic Caribbean Chronicler.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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