Fighting the Critical Battle of Poverty Alleviation: Storming the Fortifications, Resolutely Winning the Final Decisive Battle

In less than six years, lifting more than 70 million people out of poverty means reducing the poor population by more than 10 million each year, and by 1 million each month. In the Recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan, lifting the rural poor out of poverty was called "the most arduous task." Whether this task can be completed on schedule, and how the critical battle of poverty alleviation can be won, is a question that concerns not only the well-being of millions of people but also the eyes of the world.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China treated lifting the rural poor out of poverty as a "prominent weak link" in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and made a series of arrangements for implementing the poverty alleviation project. On the 23rd, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting, reviewed and approved the Decision on Winning the Critical Battle of Poverty Alleviation, further clarified requirements, refined arrangements, and assigned responsibilities, issuing a mobilization order for poverty alleviation to the whole Party and society.

Since the launch of reform and opening up, 700 million rural poor in our country have been lifted out of poverty, contributing more than 70% to global poverty reduction, making it the most splendid chapter of the "China miracle." But it should also be noted that the further we go, the greater the difficulty of poverty alleviation and the more arduous the task. Behind the more than 70 million poor people is a "problem landscape" woven from various intertwined difficulties. From the extremely poor corners of the Daliang Mountains where people "eat meat at most 3 times a year," to the barren land of rocky desertification areas where "water, soil, and fertilizer all run away," to the helpless reality of children deep in the mountains "losing at the starting line of life," all urgently tell us that poverty alleviation and development has entered the sprint phase of gnawing on hard bones and storming the fortifications, and has reached the critical moment of the decisive battle.

To win the critical battle of poverty alleviation, targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty eradication are the decisive strategy. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, poverty alleviation and development values precision, emphasizes precision, and success or failure lies in precision. In the past, some places were accustomed to flood irrigation and sprinkling pepper powder, and even adopted the method of "using hand grenades to blow up fleas," resulting in twice the effort for half the result. Only by finding the "root of poverty," prescribing the right medicine and targeted treatment, doing a good job in the "six precisions," and adhering to classified policies can we truly bid farewell to poverty. In recent years, some places have accurately identified poverty through "first look at the house, second look at the grain, third look at whether the labor capacity is strong, fourth look at whether there is a schoolchild in the family," and implemented "one method for each village, one policy for each household" to strive for practical results, demonstrating the important role of the word "precision" in poverty alleviation work.

To win the critical battle of poverty alleviation, gathering the joint forces of all parties is the key to victory. Poverty alleviation has a tight schedule and heavy tasks, and more consensus and strength must be gathered. Government departments have a duty to defend their territory, and have unshirkable responsibilities in infrastructure construction, policy guarantees, and financial investment in poor areas. They also need to fully mobilize social forces, encourage and guide various financial institutions to participate in poverty alleviation, and improve the "three-in-one" large poverty alleviation pattern supported by special poverty alleviation, industry poverty alleviation, and social poverty alleviation. Poor areas' firm confidence and self-reliance are an important foundation, and developed areas should also actively provide assistance and continuously offer support. Gathering wisdom and strength to form a work pattern of "nine oxen climbing a slope, each doing its part," poverty alleviation will have an endless strong impetus.

To win the critical battle of poverty alleviation, implementing responsibilities is the foundation of victory. Poverty alleviation relies on willpower and competes on execution. Without the determination to rise to difficulties and be determined to win, one will develop fear of difficulties in the face of hard bones; without strong leadership and responsibility that follows through to the end, hard tasks will become soft constraints. Only by effectively strengthening the Party's leadership and providing strong political guarantees for poverty alleviation can we steer and navigate poverty alleviation well.

Strengthening the Party's leadership over poverty alleviation has as its core strengthening the work mechanism, and the key lies in implementing responsibilities at every level. Implementing the leadership system of central coordination, provincial (autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government) overall responsibility, and city (prefecture) and county implementation, and the work mechanism focusing on contiguous areas and precise to villages and households, requires Party committees and governments at all levels, especially those in poor areas, to sign military orders of commitment level by level and implement responsibilities level by level. Using the strictest assessment, supervision, and accountability, strengthening financial supervision and inspection and auditing, and severely punishing illegal and irregular acts such as embezzlement, misappropriation, extravagance, and waste, so that institutions are rigid and accountability is forceful, can create an atmosphere of daring to take responsibility and vigorously implementing.

Back then, Comrade Deng Xiaoping said meaningfully in his southern tour talks: our country has been poor for thousands of years, and now it can no longer afford to be poor. From poverty to moderate prosperity, more than 30 years of journey through wind and rain have achieved a millennium dream. "Moderate prosperity in all respects is the moderate prosperity of all Chinese people." This is a promise of absolute sincerity and also a critical battle with no way back. With the sense of responsibility of "I only wish all living beings are well-fed and warm, and I will not shrink from hardship in entering the mountains and forests," the sense of mission of "not shirking difficulties and not evading responsibility," and the sense of urgency of "time waits for no one, seize the day," working hard and achieving lasting results, we will certainly win the critical battle of poverty alleviation and let the sunshine of happiness of moderate prosperity in all respects shine on hundreds of millions of Chinese people!