Mortgagenewshomeloans Jenn China today is blessed with many favorable conditions, some of them much more favorable than in the past, in its poverty alleviation drive. Great attention has been paid to the work by governments at various levels; support has been given by all sectors of society; and the cadres and ordinary people of the poor regions are working hard with one heart and one mind. These are the most important conditions for guaranteeing the steady progress of the work. With regard to the objective environment, we have the following favorable conditions:
-A sound base has been laid for the poverty alleviation work. After more than 20 years of hard work, the problem of food and clothing of the impoverished population has been basically solved; production and living conditions in poverty-stricken areas have improved by a wide margin; the ability to withstand natural calamities and develop production in those areas has been strengthened; and we have accumulated a rich store of successful experiences and found out a number of effective methods in the practice of the poverty relief work. All these are helpful to the progress of our future work in this regard.
-The sustained growth of the economy in the future will quicken the process of the work of poverty alleviation. Practice has proved that economic growth is the key to solving the problem of poverty. The coefficient of elasticity of the reduction of China's poverty-stricken population and economic growth was -0.8 in the 1990s. That means that the increase of one percentage point of the GDP will reduce the size of the rural poor by 0.8 percent. In accordance with the state's economic development plan, China's economy will score an annual increase of seven percent in the coming five years. So there will be a further demand for workers, some of whom will come from the poor areas. As a result, the standard of living in those areas will be improved. At the same time, along with the steady improvement of the comprehensive national strength, the state will pour more resources into development and construction in the poor areas, providing a sound material base for the development of those areas.
-The economic restructuring is conducive to the development of the poor areas. At this time when there has been an increasingly fierce competition in both domestic and foreign markets, China is devoting major efforts to adjusting and optimizing its industrial structure. The developed regions, on the one hand, have quickened the pace of upgrading their industries and energetically developing capital- and technology-intensive industries. On the other hand, in order to improve the competitiveness of their industries, they are transferring some labor-intensive industries to the less-developed areas. The poor areas, mostly situated in the central and western parts of China, have relatively rich resources and cheap labor, which place them in a locationally advantageous position to respond to such transference. It is fully possible for the western region to import capital and technology, and accept transferred industries, so as to improve their position in the division of regional industries and quicken the change of local industrial structure and economic development.
-The implementation of the large-scale development strategy for the western region is also helpful for poverty alleviation and will have a far-reaching influence on the reduction of the impoverishment rate. The focus of the development strategy is on quickening the construction of infrastructure, especially the building of water conservancy, transportation and telecommunications facilities, and the strengthening of eco-environmental protection and construction. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), a large number of projects will be undertaken in the western region. In addition, many preferential policies for the development of the western region have been formulated by the state, such as the increase of the percentage of foreign capital to be used by the western region and special state bonds issued mainly for the development of this region. The construction of a sequence of major projects and the implementation of the preferential policies will lay a good foundation for eliminating the backwardness of the poor areas in the western region.
-Opening wider to the outside world will bring new opportunities for the development of the poor areas. After China joins the WTO, the markets of these areas will expand further and open wider to the outside world, which will be favorable for the development of their advantageous labor- and resource-intensive industries, bringing more employment opportunities. Though the existing industries in those areas may be adversely affected after China enters the WTO, in the long run this will be good for the transfer of their workers and the export of their labor-intensive products.
Difficulties and Problems
The main difficulties and problems for China in the early period of the 21st century in the field of poverty alleviation are as follows: First, though the income of the poverty-stricken people has been obviously improved, the current standard for poverty relief in China is very low. Second, restricted by unfavorable natural conditions, weak social insurance system and their own poor comprehensive ability, the people who now have enough to eat and wear may easily sink back into poverty. Third, although the development-oriented poverty reduction drive has greatly changed the poverty and backwardness of the vast impoverished rural areas, there has been no qualitative change either in the basic production and living conditions of the poverty-stricken peasant households, or in the social, economic and cultural backwardness in those areas. Fourth, because of its large population, China will face employment pressure for a long period to come. This pressure is bound to adversely affect the employment of the impoverished population, so much so that many effective aid-the-poor measures will not play the roles they should play. Fifth, people who still do not have enough to eat and wear generally live in areas with adverse natural environments, a low level of social development and underdeveloped social services, where the contrast between input and result is very sharp.
Targets and Goals
The Chinese Government will persist in taking those in impoverished areas who do not have enough to eat and wear as the first to be helped. Though their number is not large, there are a lot of difficulties in helping them get rid of poverty. At the same time, those who have just enough to eat and wear should be helped steadily to shake off poverty. Because their production and living conditions have not basically changed and they are not strong enough to fight natural calamities by themselves, these people will easily sink back into poverty once struck by natural disasters. So our future task is to further help those people become rich after they have shaken off poverty.
China's overall poverty alleviation goal from 2001 to 2010 is as follows: To help the small number of needy people without enough to eat and wear attain that minimum standard of living as soon as possible, and further improve the basic production and living conditions of the poor areas and consolidate the results gained in this regard. At the same time, the quality of life and comprehensive quality of the poverty-stricken people shall be improved, and construction of infrastructure facilities shall be speeded up in impoverished rural areas. In addition, their eco-environment will be improved, and their social, economic and cultural backwardness changed, so as to create the conditions for a future comfortable life.
From 2001 to 2010, the Chinese Government will concentrate its poverty alleviation efforts on the ethnic minority areas, old revolutionary base areas, border areas and destitute areas in the central and western regions. Some counties will be designated for special help. The government will use its financial, material and human resources in a concentrated way in the comparatively concentrated poor areas. A unified plan will be drawn up, which will be carried out on a yearly basis. The government will combine separate guidance with a comprehensive approach in the work.
Ways and Means
The Chinese Government will adopt the following ways and means in its poverty alleviation work up to 2010:
-Continuing to put the stress on crop cultivation and aquiculture and poultry raising, and efforts will be concentrated on helping the poor people to develop specialty and competitive products in this field. With increasing the income of the poverty-stricken people as the focal point, we shall optimize the varieties of products, improve their qualities and increase their benefits by reliance on sci-tech progress. In line with the principle of improving the eco-environment, the protection and construction of the ecological environment will be strengthened so as to achieve sustainable development. With the market as the orientation, comprehensive investigation should be done concerning products that are going to be put into production. Services in the fields of information, technology and sales should be guaranteed in order to ensure the increase of production and incomes.
-Promoting the industrialized operation of agriculture. In line with the requirements for industrialized operation, farm products with resources advantages and marketability should be produced or planned and developed according to an integrated plan, so as to develop a characteristic, regionally leading industry. Great efforts will be made to develop "cooperation between farmers and companies" and a made-to-order farming. Large and medium-sized agricultural products processing enterprises capable of developing new markets should be guided or encouraged to build raw material production bases in the poor areas and provide serialized, pre-production, in-production and post-production services for impoverished peasant households, so as to form an industrialized operation featuring the integration of trade, industry and agriculture and the coordinated management of production, supply and sale.
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