On February 25, the Communist Party of China (CPC) held a “national summing-up and commendation conference on poverty eradication”, at which General Secretary Xi Jinping declared that the CPC had “achieved a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty” and that “98.99 million rural people have been lifted out of poverty under the current standards, 832 poor counties have been uncovered, and 128,000 poor villages have been listed. The poor population has all been lifted out of poverty, 832 poor counties have all been removed from the list, and 128,000 poor villages have all emerged. However, the so-called “comprehensive victory in poverty eradication” led by Xi Jinping is highly controversial.
Xi Jinping proposed the “poverty alleviation campaign” six years ago, proposing that by 2020, the rural poor would be lifted out of poverty, all poverty would be removed, and the problem of overall regional poverty would be solved. The authorities even claimed to achieve a moderately prosperous society by 2020.
The Guizhou provincial government announced on November 23 last year that nine national-level poverty-stricken counties under its jurisdiction had been officially lifted out of poverty, followed by the Communist Party’s official media announcing that all 832 national-level poverty-stricken counties in the country had been “lifted out of poverty and removed from the cap”.
According to the outside world, the official announcement that all poverty-stricken counties in the country have been lifted off the cap before the end of the year is apparently the last step to pave the way for announcing the completion of a moderately prosperous society according to the timetable. This is because Xi Jinping defined poverty eradication as an absolute indicator of the goal requirement of building a moderately prosperous society, which includes the removal of all poverty-stricken counties.
“Whenever you want to zero out, the media is yours anyway,” a netizen commented on the report that all poverty-stricken counties have been cleared.
The highest level of the Communist Party of China (CPC) declared victory in poverty eradication, which Xi Jinping had already announced once at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the CPC Political Bureau on Dec. 3, 2020.
On Feb. 10 this year, Xi again took credit for the poverty eradication figures at a delegation meeting, claiming that “great historic achievements have been made in building a moderately prosperous society across the board, and the target task of eradicating poverty was completed as scheduled.
Deutsche Welle reported that according to the World Bank’s 2015 international poverty line, people living on less than $1.90 per person per day are considered to be in extreme poverty. But China has always had its own set of standards below the international poverty line. in November 2011, the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted an annual per capita net income of 2,300 yuan for farmers as its new poverty alleviation standard. In March, Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council’s Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said at a press conference that China’s standard for poverty alleviation is a comprehensive one that includes the so-called “one income, two worries and three guarantees”. Among them, “the national income standard is the constant price of 2010 per capita annual income of farmers 2300 yuan, according to prices and other indices, to the end of last year the current price is 3218 yuan, this year for about 4,000 yuan”. He also said that the two do not worry refers to not worry about Food, not worry about clothing, which has been done. The “three guarantees” refers to compulsory Education, basic medical care and housing security is guaranteed. According to the information he provided, “the income per capita of those who have already escaped poverty is above 9,000 yuan, and the income per capita of the remaining poor is above 6,000 yuan.”
Liang Xin, a volunteer who has been engaged in charity work for six years in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, reveals that the official words of the Chinese Communist Party about poverty eradication are only the government’s means to achieve the goal, and in fact the people in Liangshan, Sichuan Province, are still living a very difficult Life. After the CCP’s ‘precise poverty alleviation,’ the living conditions have become worse.
For example, Liang Xin said, the Chinese Communist Party has set a “poverty alleviation target” in each local village, providing 40,000 yuan to renovate houses, “which means that these families are determined to be poor, and the government will send someone to ask you if you want to build a house, if you want to renovate your old house into a better house. If you want, the government will give you 40,000 yuan, but the renovation has conditions, you must buy materials from the designated company, the cost of building a house needs about 80,000, you also have to by 40,000, the result becomes a debt.”
Mr. He, a scholar in Anyang, Henan Province, also told Radio Free Asia that he could not see that the villagers’ lives could be improved after Henan Province was lifted out of poverty.
Huang Xiaomin, a rights activist in Chengdu, also questioned the Sichuan provincial government’s announcement of last year’s urban and rural low income standards, with urban residents in Peng’an County receiving only RMB 590 per person per month and farmers RMB 390, which actually amounts to just over RMB 170. “And at this moment, it is suddenly high profile to say that more than 800 counties have been lifted out of poverty. Is this simple propaganda, or a disagreement?”
Yunnan University scholar Bai Yang, on the other hand, said that the poor counties out of poverty shows that the central government no longer needs to send poverty alleviation money to these poor counties every year, “the main significance of the poor counties out of poverty is that in the future this subsidy will not be given, the central treasury saves a large amount of money for poverty alleviation, and specifically whether the poor population is out of poverty is not a matter for them to consider. In fact, the annual subsidy does not reach the people, but basically gives the three levels of government almost a share.”
Dr. Cheng Xiaonong of Princeton University previously pointed out that in China, where the truth is blocked and public opinion is manipulated, it is easy for the Chinese Communist Party to achieve the goal of “eliminating poor counties”. Although the situation is getting worse and worse, after the CCP’s propaganda media and statistics bureau make up the results, the results will become dressed up according to the authorities’ needs, and it does not matter if they are true or not, only the CCP itself cares. Rural farmers will not rejoice just because the CCP announces that it will “eliminate poor counties”.
A system official said that the CCP has four major ways to combat poverty: first, the direct means, that is, to lower the standard line of poverty; second, the comprehensive falsification of poverty eradication data; third, “surprise condolences to all people to combat poverty”, the final kick, that is, there is no way but to send him money; fourth, the last trick, is to carry out the falsification of poverty eradication for all people. “brutal sealing mouth”.
Interestingly, the Chinese Communist Party released on February 21, 2021 Central Document No. 1, mainly related to the “three rural” work, while in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s previous announcement “to fully complete the goal of poverty eradication as scheduled”, stressed the need to establish a The “transition period” will be five years long.
Some netizens questioned: “”first lulled ‘victory’ and then 5 years ‘transition'”.
In recent years, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has continued to make public statements contradicting Xi Jinping. Among them, at a press conference at the National People’s Congress in late May last year, Li said that 600 million people in China earn less than 1,000 yuan a month, sparking an uproar. Outsiders saw this as a virtual deconstruction of the authorities’ failure to alleviate poverty.
China’s economy has been on a serious downward spiral due to the Epidemic that hit the country, and Chinese Communist Party Premier Li Keqiang made an unprecedented failure to propose an economic target for the year at the third session of the 13th National People’s Congress in May last year. According to foreign media reports, because of China’s hidden black swan events abound, this year’s Communist Party’s two sessions, which will be held next month, may refer to last year’s practice of not setting GDP growth targets, but only setting other comprehensive indicators such as employment and prices.
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