Making impossible possible

Chinese officials reiterated the goal of poverty alleviation and deepening the opening-up policy in financial sector at the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference being held after a months-long delay.

With the emergence of the coronavirus and ensuing lockdown of cities and disruption of national and international flights as well as trade and travels, the world thought that China would encounter a severe economic crisis worse than that of Europe in 2008, making poverty alleviation impossible. Even holding the two sessions was said to be unlikely. To the world’s surprise, however, China overcame the pandemic and is holding the two sessions.

The ongoing two sessions carry heavyweight for China for few reasons. First, this year’s sessions have happened between two significant historical periods as China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China last year with grand military parade and will mark the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China next year. Second, China managed to contain the coronavirus pandemic and the scale of human casualties and economic fallouts have been far less than those of the United States and some European countries. Third, China is seeking to accomplish the poverty alleviation this year to achieve building a moderately prosperous society by the end of 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic, which is challenging the entire globe and wrecking economic havoc on the world, cannot prevent China’s poverty alleviation program. Although the virus was politicized in a bid to stigmatize China and pressure the Chinese people, it failed. China made important breakthrough in containing the virus and extended its medical support to a number of countries afflicted by it.

Despite the pandemic, Beijing seeks to opens its markets for foreign investments and continue its opening-up policy. In his panel discussion with political advisors from the economic sector, President Xi Jinping reiterated upholding multilateralism and promoting development through win-win cooperation and building an open world economy, which will be conducive to poverty alleviation and economic development.

It is obvious that this year is also highly challenging for China, mainly for the problems emerging in the wake of the coronavirus. As a result, Beijing did not include a growth target for the current year in its annual Government Work Report to the NPC. Amid the rising challenges, China is going to lift 52 counties and 1,113 villages out of poverty, stabilize employment and ensure living standards, and secure their access to compulsory education, basic medical services and safe housing. In the meantime, the world will sustain economic decline as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which is likely to put an adverse effect on China. Thus, accomplishing poverty alleviation is highly tough and a race against the clock.

The remarkable achievements of Chinese government, mainly in terms of poverty alleviation, shows that Beijing is able to achieve the first centenary goal by the end of this year. For example, within the last year and few months, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out in the report that the GDP grew by 6.1 percent, unemployment rate fell below 5.3 percent, economy remained stable, living standards and economic structure improved, and headway was made in reform and opening-up. And overall, 95 percent of the poverty alleviation goal has been achieved so far.

It is easily noticeable that there is a strong sense of trust between governemnt and people in China as the government has rendered great service through fulfilling the public demands, tackling the unemployment, alleviating poverty, and opening China wider to the rest of the world. The two sessions clearly indicate the responsibility and transparency of Chinese officials, who brief not only the authorities but also the nation at the presence of the media. During the sessions, Chinese officials hold a series of press conferences providing opportunities for foreign and domestic reporters to ask questions. Moreover, representatives of both genders from different ethnic backgrounds participate in the sessions to have their say, point out the challenges, and offer their suggestions. Overall, the two sessions is a platform for broad discussions within the officials as well as exchanges between the government and Chinese people.

In the ongoing two sessions, the issue of the pandemic was a fresh topic, commercial exchanges and opening-up and foreign investments made the national headlines as ever, and building a moderately prosperous society was highly salient. As the first centenary goal is going to be achieved by the end of this year and the pandemic could not create a serious roadblock before convening the annual meetings, the current two sessions carry really heavy weight.

The author is a writer with Daily Outlook, an independent newspaper in Afghanistan. 

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.