China shares its strategy in winning war against poverty with ASEAN

Chen Zhigang, the deputy head of China's State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, speaks on the 12th ASEAN-China Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction in Manila, the Philippines, June 27, 2018. Officials and experts from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in the forum to deepen cooperation and discuss new measures on how to eradicate poverty across the region. (Xinhua/Dong Chengwen)

China shared its strategy on how it won the fight against poverty with its Southeast Asian neighbors in an anti-poverty forum that kicked off here on Wednesday.

Officials and experts from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in the 12th ASEAN-China Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction to deepen cooperation and discuss new measures on how to eradicate poverty across the region.

After 40 years of reform and opening-up, more than 800 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty, which contributes more than 70 percent of the world's total poverty reduction endeavor, the forum revealed.

In the past five years alone, Chen Zhigang, the deputy head of China's State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said the scale of poverty in China has been greatly reduced.

"The poor population in rural areas has been reduced by 68.53 million in total, and the incidence of poverty has dropped to 3.1 percent. The number of poor counties has witnessed a net reduction for the first time," Chen said.

In the past five years, Chen added that "the living standards of the impoverished (Chinese) population have improved significantly."

"The average annual disposable income per capita of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas has increased by 10.4 percent, and the gap with the national average has further narrowed," Chen said.

AKP Mochtan, ASEAN deputy secretary general, stressed the need to identify new innovative measures and enhance joint efforts to fight poverty.

With the theme "Enhancing Poverty Reduction Partnerships for an ASEAN-China Community with a Shared Future," the forum brings together 120 government officials, experts, scholars, civil society officials, international organizations officers from all over ASEAN and China to discuss new measures in addressing the poverty situation within the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.