China releases blueprint on fighting poverty

BEIJING -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council released a poverty alleviation instruction on Monday.

The document followed a high-profile conference on the issue in Beijing late in November, during which the leadership pledged measures to help lift the country's remaining 70 million poor out of poverty by 2020.

That goal will be "the most arduous task" on China's path toward the building of a moderately prosperous society, according to the document.

Poverty alleviation will also encourage domestic demand and boost economic growth, said the document.

It called for creative ideas and methods to address poverty as the country had hit "the home stretch."

The document reiterated that there should be more targeted and precise measures, as well as ways to ensure poor people in rural areas have access to food, clothes, basic education, medical care, and a safe home by 2020.

Per-capita disposable income of farmers in poor areas should grow faster than the national average, and basic public services should almost match the national average criteria.

"Extraordinary measures should be taken, solid solutions applied, and the Party and society should be mobilized to win the tough battle against poverty," the document said.

The government should develop industries, help migrant workers find jobs, and relocate people that live in hostile conditions and fragile environments, it said.

Poor regions should benefit from government funds for environmental protection, education support and medical assistance.

Infrastructure construction should also be stepped up, the document said.

Apart from building more railways, roads, water facilities and power projects, Internet access and logistics should be enhanced to encourage e-commerce.

Fiscal spending should be increased and banks should be encouraged to lend more to support poverty relief measures.

Meanwhile, ecological protection should be given priority in poverty alleviation and development, according to the document.

More than 600 million Chinese have escaped poverty in the past three decades, about 70 percent of the total global achievement.

At the end of last year, 70.17 million people in the countryside lived below China's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (376 U.S. dollars) in annual income by 2010 price standards.