China's poverty reduction "inspiring experience," say experts

CAIRO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- China's experience in eradicating absolute poverty is inspiring for all countries, especially the developing ones, Egyptian experts have said.

Diplomats, researchers and experts made the remarks at a recent seminar on China's poverty alleviation organized by Cairo-based Tahrir Center for Studies and Research.

The seminar discussed China's methods in tackling poverty, and takeaways for other countries from the process.

Ali el-Hefny, Egypt's former ambassador to China and former deputy foreign minister, said China's experience in uprooting poverty is successful, which added to other successes the country has achieved since the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"The country's achievement of eradicating extreme poverty for 800 million (people) ... is a miracle that shall go down in history," el-Hefny told Xinhua.

China has harnessed the capabilities of all sectors to improve the living standards of the poor, especially in the countryside, he said.

He stressed the Chinese government's keenness on enhancing development and building a well-off society while leaving no one behind has boosted security and development in China.

China's experience is inspiring not only for the developing countries, but also "advanced countries that aspire to raise rates of growth and development," added el-Hefny.

China declared on Feb. 25 that it has scored a "complete victory" in its fight against poverty and accomplished the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty.

Nasser Abdel-Aal, a professor of Chinese studies at Cairo-based Ain Shams University, said the Chinese experience "is rich and associated with the Chinese policies" since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Praising the CPC's people-centered approach in eradicating poverty, Abdel-Aal said that fighting poverty in China was not based on providing aid for people, but was conducted through public policies and executive plans in the light of a development plan.

The Chinese leadership has established precise criteria for tackling poverty and databased the number of poor people and districts, which made it easier to deal with different cases with different approaches, he added.

Meanwhile, Ahmad al-Saeed, chairman of the Cairo-based Chinese-Egyptian institution Wisdom House for Cultural Industries, attributed China's poverty-reduction success to "the confidence between the people and the government."

Over the past eight years, China has lifted 98.99 million poor rural residents out of poverty, with 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 poor villages removed from the poverty list, according to official data.