China is running a winning race against its poverty

Following the country's first such plan in 1994, which aimed to get 80 million rural residents out of poverty in seven years through 2000, China has initiated two consecutive national poverty relief programs, each lasting for a decade, for the years from 2001 through 2020.

In December 2016, it further released a special five-year plan to ramp up poverty alleviation efforts.

It's safe to say that one of the most inspiring lessons in China's poverty relief is its practice of setting timetables and mobilizing resources to live up to the strategies.

The plans ensure the policies and priorities are geared to what should be accomplished in each specific phase, and appropriate funds are allocated for the tough job, without being diverted elsewhere.

The past four years alone have seen China pool 196.1 billion yuan for poverty relief, with an annual growth of 19 percent. In the past five years, more than 60 million people were helped out of poverty, thus reducing the country's poverty rate from 10.2 percent to less than 4 percent, according to official statistics.

A targeted inspection on the use and management of poverty relief funds in 28 regions from March to May 2017 retrieved 730 million yuan of misused poverty-reduction funds, and nearly 450 people have been investigated and punished for fraudulent claims or misappropriation of funds, Xinhua reported on Saturday, citing sources from the Ministry of Finance and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

While the elimination of poverty has long been regarded as a major task for humanity, until now it has been deemed a utopian dream, said Bill Jones, Washington bureau chief of Economic Intelligence Review.

Globally, more than 800 million people are still living on less than $1.25 a day, many lacking access to adequate food, clean drinking water or adequate sanitation, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

"With China that dream is now becoming a reality, and has created a tremendous amount of optimism that it can also be eliminated globally," Jones told China Daily.

Interestingly, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that a majority in the US say the government should have a "major role" in such issues as helping lift people out of poverty.

Currently, 67 percent say the government should have a major role in addressing poverty, up from 55 percent two years ago, according to a poll released by the Pew Research Center on Dec 14.

Contact the writer at huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com