China launches supervision on local governments' poverty relief work

The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development has sent supervision teams to review local government poverty relief work.

The supervision will expand over 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China's middle and west regions, as decreed by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.

The supervision campaign will include random inspections, field research, secret inquiries and information from the public will be sought. The campaign will be concluded by the end of October.

China has intensified poverty alleviation efforts to achieve its goal of eliminating poverty by 2020.

On Monday, the government released details of officials' poverty alleviation responsibilities, stating that governments of all levels should have different emphases according to their respective responsibilities.

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council will be mainly responsible for policy-making; provincial governments will formulate local plans; while city and county governments will perform the main functions.

Heads of impoverished counties in China will not be promoted or transferred to other posts unless they can prove concrete achievements.

China has entered a crucial stage in its poverty reduction drive, according to the white paper "China's Progress in Poverty Reduction and Human Rights," which was published by the State Council Information Office Monday.

By the end of 2015, China had 55.75 million people living in poverty, more than the population of the continent of Oceania.

China has pledged to lift 10 million people out of poverty every year from 2016 to eradicate poverty by 2020. Endi