Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - China has nearly 90 million people living in poverty with an annual income below 2,300 yuan (US$ 365). Some 832 counties can be considered poor. Thus, how "can Chinese society still be called moderately prosperous," said a top official involved in poverty alleviation.
If the government wants to meet its target of building a moderately prosperous society within five years, the country should no longer have poor counties within 15 years, said Liu Yongfu, head of the State Council Leading Group Office on Poverty Alleviation and Development, on the sidelines of this week's meetings of the National People's Congress.
China has 592 counties that are officially designated as poor and 14 contiguous poor areas. The two categories had some overlap and covered a total of 832 of China's counties, Liu said. Overall last year, the government identified 128,000 poor villages across the nation.
Each met the established criteria for village poverty, i.e. a poverty rate that is twice the provincial average, average incomes lower than 60 per cent of the province's peasants' average income, and absence of collectively-own businesses.
Based on this, some 90 million people fall within the limits set by the government.
"If a poor area as big as a county still exists, can Chinese society still be called moderately prosperous?" Liu was quoted as saying. Yet, he acknowledged that eliminating poverty within a few years was going to be a difficult task, especially in areas that are hard to reach.
"It is difficult for villages in remote mountain regions to change in only a few years, but there must not be absolute poverty where villagers' annual income is lower than 2,300 yuan," the minister said.
One thing Liu did not do was cite an investigation by the National Audit Office concerning the embezzlement in 2013 of some 234 million yuan destined to poverty alleviation in 19 counties, in six provinces.