China's Poverty Alleviation Practice Resonates with "Vanuatu 2030 | The People's Plan"

2021-04-09 06:00

Chinese poverty alleviation is a political economy theory of distribution conducive to both poverty reduction and development. Its core principle is to maintain the goal of national common prosperity and rely on precise means to build a "pro-poor market" in which the government, market and society jointly work to emancipate the productivity of the poor and make them contributors to growth. The result is a more balanced and fairer development by turning the recipients of targeted poverty alleviation into productive members of society. There are many similarities between China's poverty alleviation theory and practice and the thinking of Vanuatu's 2030 | The People's Plan.

--Upholding a strong leadership. The unified leadership of the Communist Party of China ensures the longevity of China's poverty alleviation policy. It is distinctly divided among officials at all levels, from the central government down, with individual responsibilities assigned to maximize leadership, organizational capability and execution. In particular, China has concentrated the elite forces of the country on the main battlefield of poverty alleviation. A total of 255,000 teams were dispatched to offer on-the-ground support and over 3 million people were sent to the countryside as special commissioners for poverty relief, working together at the front line with nearly 2 million township-level cadres and millions of village-level cadres.

Vanuatu 2030 | The People's Plan points out that "Building and strengthening institutional capacity is essential if we are to take control of our own destiny, and ensure an inclusive, representative and responsive state. " The agreement between China and Vanuatu is that determined leadership will bring long-term stability, which is a necessary requirement for social and economic development.

--Upholding a people-centric approach. China bases its efforts on the interests of the people and unswervingly pursues prosperity for all. Nearly VT 27.1 trillion of fiscal funds from different levels of government including central, provincial, municipal and township have been invested into poverty alleviation over the past eight years. China has also taken into consideration education, health and living standards in setting its poverty threshold. Its targets ensure the rural poor need not worry about food and clothing and have access to compulsory education, basic medical care and safe housing. These standards are the benchmarks for poverty alleviation and fully demonstrate what Chinese President Xi Jinping said "to meet the people's aspirations for a happy life is our mission."

There is no shortage of the word "people" in The People's Plan of Vanuatu, such as "Our people and place are at the very heart of our development aspirations", "all people have a just and equal opportunity to be well educated, healthy and wealthy", "improve the general wellbeing of our people", and so on. All the above shows that the Vanuatu government also follows a people-first approach.

--Upholding joint actions to tackle challenges. The key reasons for China's victory in poverty fight lie in the political advantages of the socialist system, which can bring together resources of the whole society and generate solidarity and joint actions. The country is resolute in allowing the "trinity" of special programs, industry and society to organically integrate and support each other. It has formed a trans-regional, trans-departmental and trans-industrial poverty reduction process to which all social sectors contribute. President Xi vividly described this as "gathering the overwhelming force capable of moving the mountains and overturning the seas."

To accomplish The People's Plan, Vanuatu has formulated the Implementation and Monitoring Framework, which ensures that the national sustainable development goals are embedded in all aspects of the government and its partnerships with civil society, the private sector and the international development partners. This approach coincides with China's strategy of joint actions to tackle challenges.

--Upholding a strategy for precision. Targeted poverty alleviation proves to be China's mighty weapon in its final push in the fight against extreme poverty. Development-orientated poverty reduction is the distinctive feature of the path to poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics. Anti-poverty efforts have been tailored to meet the needs of individuals, households and villages, making government support more targeted and effective. Meanwhile, China adheres to development as the fundamental way to solve poverty, improves development conditions and enhances development capabilities in order to achieve the transition from "blood transfusion" poverty alleviation to "blood-making" assistance.

With respect to development, Vanuatu also stresses that "Our people expect limited government resources to be put to better use. Attention particularly needs to be given to our rural areas, which have for too long suffered from an infrastructure and services deficit." China's targeted poverty alleviation strategy and development-orientated poverty reduction policy can offer inspirations to Vanuatu.

Upper right: Two sisters stand in front of a deserted adobe house in the mountains.

Lower right:The new village they are living in now.

--Upholding self-reliance. The key to getting out of poverty lies in people's mindsets. China has adopted measures that combine poverty alleviation with efforts to improve people's "will and wisdom" to stimulate the internal motivation of the disadvantaged, so that they can take actions more spontaneously. It has turned out that the people are true heroes. Fully stimulating the wisdom and strength of the people is particularly important for them to create their own good life.

One of the development aspirations described in The People's Plan is to build "an economy based on equitable, sustainable growth that creates jobs and income earning opportunities accessible to all people in rural and urban areas". It also stresses mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people.

--Upholding shared development. China has attached great importance to social assistance in the poverty alleviation campaign, demanding maintaining the Chinese traditional virtues of "helping each other", "uniting all efforts for a common purpose" and "helping those in need." China has driven the innovation of social assistance methods and helped nurture a situation that everyone is willing to and able to help.

The People's Plan specifies that "the country was founded on Melanesian values of respect, harmony, unity and forgiveness. These values shape our cultural heritage, which is the country's strength." "Our development must be firmly anchored to these values that hold our society together." Shared development fits into the Melanesian traditions and values.

Upper: A woman and her baby stand in front of her old house in 2016

Lower:They stand in the yard of the new house built by the government in 2018

Development is the "master key" to solve the poverty problem. Mankind has entered a new era of interconnectedness, with countries sharing intertwined interests and their future closely linked together. China advocates that the issue of development should be highlighted in the global macro framework, and there should be a greater emphasis on the promotion and protection of the rights to subsistence and development. The international community should be guided by the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to strengthen development cooperation, narrow the North-South development gap, and achieve common development and prosperity. China stands ready to work with Vanuatu and other countries to contribute to building a better world free of poverty and enjoying common development.