Interview: Cambodia eyes China's progress, experience in poverty reduction: scholars

China has made great leaps forward in reducing poverty over the past two decades, lifting hundreds of millions of its citizens out of extreme poverty, said Cambodian scholars on Sunday.

"It is a miracle," said Chheang Vannarith, chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, referring to China's progress in reducing poverty.

"China has significantly elevated hundreds of millions of people from poverty over the last two decades," he told Xinhua in an interview, adding "the successful story of China in poverty reduction should be further shared with other developing countries."

Pro-poor development strategy, social protection policy and human capital development are the three-pronged policy to reduce poverty in China, Vannarith said.

He added that efforts to achieve rural development, especially through infrastructure construction and agricultural productivity increase, have significantly contributed to poverty reduction in China's rural areas.

"The central and local governments have worked closely, effectively together to ensure that everyone shares the fruits of development," he noted.

Vannarith also appreciated the Chinese government for having invested heavily in education and healthcare, saying that the healthy and educated population are the necessary foundation for China's sustainable development.

Lawmaker Sok Eysan, a spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People's Party, said that China has seen great achievements in poverty alleviation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"It is a pride for the Chinese people under the CPC's leadership," he said. "I believe that China will be able to achieve its target of eliminating extreme poverty by 2020."

The spokesman said the development of human resource, health, agriculture and infrastructure especially in rural areas, were effective in lifting people out of poverty in China.

"Cambodia also focuses on these sectors to reduce poverty and improve our people's livelihoods," he said. "It will be great if China further shares its good experience in poverty reduction with us."

The spokesman also congratulated China on the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Sunday morning.

According to a Chinese government work report released to the media ahead of the NPC session, China aims to reduce the number of rural residents living in poverty by over 10 million, including 3.4 million to be relocated from inhospitable areas. Endi