China has always taken poverty alleviation as an important national development goal and task, and continues to adhere to the people-oriented development, striving to make all people benefit from the economic and social development in the country. The government has incorporated poverty alleviation and development into the national economic and social development plan, and developed and implemented a series of policy measures to promote the development of rural impoverished areas. This effort has born fruits as China has formally announced that the war on poverty has been concluded with success. China, through its leader Xi Jinping, has publicly declared, “Victory in the battle against poverty is complete, and China completed the arduous task of eliminating extreme poverty”. This was announced at a grand gathering held on February 25, 2021, to mark China’s achievements in poverty alleviation and to honor its model fighters against poverty. The Communist Party of China and China’s government need to be congratulated for this achievement.
To achieve this the government has improved the social policy system in rural areas, especially social security policy, giving priority to the field of poverty reduction and the impoverished regions in the allocation of public financial funds, and constantly increased support for poor areas and effectively strengthened the execution of pro-poor policies. The connectivity of the rural farming with modern information system and the seventy years of agricultural development have made Chinese farmers more knowledgeable and modern in their transition to entrepreneurs and industrial workers. It’s really encouraging that Chinese farmers now adopt scientific know-how and modern practices assisted through artificial intelligence technology.
There are a number of questions by those researching on China’s poverty alleviation efforts, on how China, once held back by extreme poverty, has become the world-leader in poverty reduction, helping hundreds of millions of Chinese people shake off poverty, contributing over 70 percent of global poverty reduction. Obviously, eradicating poverty needs courage, vision, sense of responsibility, and the determination to take on challenges. There is no question that achievements that China made remain exemplary feat that needs the appreciation of all of us. Since 1978 China’s successive leaderships were followed by various people-oriented welfare schemes that appreciably improved life in many aspects, such as education, healthcare, infant mortality, maternal mortality, potable water, electricity, safe housing conditions, and sanitation facilities.
The Chinese government has successively formulated and implemented programs such as China Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development (2001–2010), and Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011–2020) and other poverty reduction plans, making poverty reduction the consensus and action of the whole society. China’s rural poverty alleviation and development has promoted social harmony, stability and justice, and promoted the development and progress of human rights in China, through huge mobilization of resources and people’s efforts towards this endeavor.
There is no doubt that developing countries in general and African countries in particular need to draw lessons from China’s four decades of determined efforts to eliminate poverty, following the country’s medium and long-term policies in poverty alleviation projects, according to their own socio-economic and political conditions. While acknowledging that Africa faces constraints that China did not in terms of diversity, varying policies of respective countries and other issues, two lessons for Africa could be cited. The first is the initial importance of productivity growth in smallholder agriculture, which will require both market-based institutional incentives and public support. China did this effectively and the rural urban connectedness stands out the most important aspect in market relations. The second is the role played by strong leadership and a capable public administration at all levels of government. This remains a challenge in Africa, as the trend in terms of leadership commitment is considered to be shaky.
One needs to emphasize that although Africa’s growing relations with China are often explained by the country’s demand for its natural resources, there is more in the relationship for which one can do to spearhead the relationship. While this has some truth, a large part of the shift is because China serves as an economic role model for the continent. China is a startling example of how a region can rise from poverty within a generation and become a dominant player on the global scene. Given the emerging global big-power rivalry and the negative impact of the pandemic on the global economy, while China successfully controlled the impact of the pandemic. Africa needs to learn lessons from China both in terms of addressing poverty and the challenges the pandemic pose.
China Africa cooperation in this regard could be further enhanced through strengthening the joint institutions that Africa and Africa could revamp and address the challenges of poverty:
- Further enhancing the south-south cooperation redoubling their efforts;
- Further strengthening FOCAC to enhance the partnership and cooperation remains critical;
- Realize the road and belt initiative to enhance cooperation through infrastructure connectivity;
- China could help Africa understand the challenges in the process of poverty alleviation, so that Africa doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, on how state institutions can help in supportive policies and public investments;
- Enable collaborations between research institutions and think tanks as well as intellectual exchange for capacity building. In the final analysis it is how knowledge and capital as well as other resources are cascaded to the plot level of an individual farmer in the vast agricultural sector in Africa and how it is connected to the markets locally, regionally and globally. All these demand serious commitments from all sides urgently.
(By: Abdeta Dribssa Beyene (PhD), Executive Director of The Centre for Dialogue, Research and Cooperation)