On September 7,2020, "The First China Lecture: China's Poverty Elimination Practices and Achievements" was held online. The main meeting venues of the lecture were located at the China-African Institute（CAI）and the University of Zambia. Researcher Li Xinfeng, the Executive President of the CAI presided over the Lecture and delivered a speech. Wu Guobao, a researcher at Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Dr. Sand Nigrande, director of the “Belt and Road” Joint Research Center of the University of Zambia and Li Xinfeng delivered keynote speeches successively at the lecture. Participants in the lecture are mainly from the “Belt and Road” Joint Research Center of the University of Zambia, the South African National School of Administration, and experts and scholars from think tanks and universities in Namibia, Nigeria, Kenya and other countries.
Li Xinfeng first extended his welcome to the lecture participants in his speech. He said that on September 3, 2018, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, in which he profoundly expounded the proposition of focusing on the implementation of the "Eight Major Actions" for cooperation with Africa; To announce China's decision to establish the China-African Institute;To deepen mutual learning of civilizations with the Africa side."
On April 9, 2019, the CAI was formally established. CAI aims to deepen the mutual learning of civilizations with African countries, strengthen governance and development experience exchanges, and jointly promote the "Belt and Road" cooperation between China and Africa, jointly build a future-oriented China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership, and jointly provide intellectual support and talent support to the building of a stronger China-Africa community.
Li Xinfeng pointed out that in order to play the role of an exchange platform, intensify academic exchanges between China and Africa; play the role of a research base and focus on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road"; play the role of a talent pool and cultivate high-end professionals; play the role of a communication window and tell the story of China-Africa friendly cooperation Since its establishment, the CAI has actively established and built three major brand projects: Africa Lecture, Ambassador Lecture and China Lecture.
The African Lecture and the Ambassadors Lecture mainly invite African scholars, African ambassadors to China and Chinese ambassadors to African countries to talk about African issues and China-Africa relations. Many events have been held before.
The "China Lecture" aims to invite renowned Chinese scholars and African experts on Chinese studies to deliver special lectures on major practical issues in the development of China and China-Africa relations, and to tell African people the story of China and China-Africa friendship. The Lecture was supposed to be held in Africa in early 2020,But due to COVID-19 pandemic, it is now hosted online.
Li Xinfeng emphasized that today is the first lecture of the China lecture ,which will conduct in-depth discussions on the theme of China-Africa cooperation in poverty reduction experience exchange. Poverty Elimination is the primary goal of the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, and it is also a common challenge to China and Africa. Both China and Africa attach great importance to poverty reduction. In order to get rid of poverty as soon as possible, both sides have formulated detailed plans and policies, implemented a series of measures to help vulnerable groups suffering from poverty, and strive to eliminate all forms of poverty.
Li Xinfeng said that China made it clear in October 2015 that by 2020, the rural poor under China's current standards will be lifted out of poverty, and all poor counties will be removed from poverty lists to solve overall regional poverty. As of May of this year, 780 of the 832 poverty-stricken counties across the country have declared poverty elimination, 15 of the 22 central and western provinces have no poverty counties, and there are 52 poverty counties in the remaining 7 provinces. Despite the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding disasters, China will achieve the overall goal of achieving poverty elimination by the end of 2020 as scheduled. Among the 2063 agenda proposed by the African Union, the first agenda is to achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development, and is determined to eradicate poverty within a generation and achieve common prosperity for the entire continent.
Li Xinfeng believes that China and Africa have developed close cooperation in the areas of poverty reduction and development, and China supports the AU in realizing the "2063 Agenda" as scheduled. Since 2010, China and Africa have been cooperating to host the China-Africa Poverty Reduction and Development Conference and conducted in-depth discussions on a wide range of topics. In May 2014, during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the headquarters of the AU, the two sides signed the "China and the African Union Strengthening China-Africa Poverty Reduction Cooperation Program". The two sides are determined to strengthen poverty reduction work and jointly respond to poverty challenges. In 2015, as a high-level dialogue platform in the field of poverty reduction, the China-Africa Conference on Poverty Reduction and Development was formally incorporated into the overall framework of the FOCAC, marking that China-Africa poverty reduction cooperation has entered a new level.
Li Xinfeng finally stated that Since its establishment, the CAI has made great efforts to promote exchanges between Chinese and African think tanks and scholars, and conducted in-depth discussions on a wide range of topics, including poverty reduction. In 2019, the CAI invited several African scholars to visit Yan’an, northwest China's Shanxi Province——where once was one of the poorest regions in China. The African scholars witnessed the achievement of Yan’an’s poverty elimination and ecological civilization construction, they were affected by the remarkable miracle of the development which created by the Yan’an people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.They also said that they want to learn Chinese experience of poverty eradication.
The Lecture was hosted by the CAI. "China Lecture" is one of the key brand projects planned by the China-African Institute.
Wu Guobao's speech was titled "China's Achievements and Experiences in Poverty Elimination". He said that in the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China has achieved two important leaps in poverty reduction. One is that from 1978 to 2012, according to China's current poverty elimination standards, it reduced the rural poor population by 671.4 million and reduced the incidence of rural poverty from 97.5%. Reduced to 10.2%, achieved large-scale poverty reduction, and completed an important leap in the basic elimination of extreme absolute poverty that generally takes hundreds of years to complete after industrialization in most industrialized countries; second, from 2013 to 2019, Through targeted poverty elimination, China has further reduced the incidence of rural poverty to 0.6% under the current standards, and has achieved another important leap in reducing the incidence of extreme poverty from 10% to less than 3%, which is generally required for most industrialized countries in 50 years.
Wu Guobao believes that China has chosen a reform path and development model that suits its national conditions, and coordinated with the implementation of regional development and poverty elimination, and achieved large-scale poverty reduction across the country. China implements development-style poverty elimination to improve the ability of the poor and poor areas to reduce poverty by expanding and sharing development results. China has innovated the systems and methods for identifying and dynamically adjusting poverty elimination targets in major countries, and solved the problem of asymmetry in poverty information; established and improved the poverty elimination governance system and poverty elimination system to ensure targeted poverty elimination; established poverty elimination resources and resources that can meet the needs of targeted poverty elimination. Mobilization system: According to the characteristics of the remaining poor population and the needs of poverty elimination, innovated and implemented poverty elimination methods that can accommodate multiple types of poverty. These important system and method innovations have enabled China to reduce more than 13 million people living in poverty every year under unfavorable macroeconomic conditions.
Wu Guobao said that China’s great achievements in poverty reduction over the past 40 years of reform and opening up contain not only specific temporal and spatial factors and the influence of China’s unique political system and governance system, but also some replicable ones that can be shared with other countries. Common elements, these experiences should become an important wealth of knowledge for China's future poverty reduction and social governance, as well as the world's poverty reduction.
The title of Dr. Sander Nigrande's speech is "The Story of Poverty Elimination in Yan'an with Chinese Characteristics". He said that the city of Yan'an is a typical representative of China's struggle for political, social and economic liberation. This is the epitome of a country that desperately needs economic freedom. It seeks real and practical solutions that resonate with people's wishes and dreams. Yan'an, a city with a long history and a very important city, demonstrates the hard work and perseverance of the Chinese people.
Dr. Sander Nigrande pointed out that in the revolutionary years, Chairman Mao Zedong laid a solid educational foundation for the masses by understanding the era he lived in and predicting the future, emphasizing the importance of agricultural development, cultivating the power of peasants, and successfully cultivated a spirit of perseverance among his followers. Therefore, the people believed him until he won the revolution and became the first leader of the People's Republic of China. Xi Jinping, the current leader of China, once lived with politically liberated but still poor farmers in Yan'an. Despite the difficult conditions at the time, Xi Jinping has been working hard to help villagers out of poverty. This is the story of two great leaders related to the same historical city Yan'an.
Dr. Sander Nigrande stated that since the founding of New China, especially after the reform and opening up, the people of Yan'an have "declared war" against poverty in the face of a desolate environment of poverty and a fragile economic foundation. By carrying forward the Yan'an spirit of continuous self-improvement and hard work, the living standards of the local people have been greatly improved, and earth-shaking changes have taken place in urban and rural areas.
Li Xinfeng's speech was titled "Targeted Poverty Elimination in Xiangxi". Based on his observations and feelings during the field trip in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Central China's Hunan Province, he emphatically introduced the great changes that have taken place in Shibadong Village in Xiangxi, and played relevant videos. He said that on November 3, 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Shibadong Village in person, where he gave the important instructions of “seeking truth from statistics, adjusting measures based local conditions, leading by classification and Targeted Poverty Elimination” for the first time there. Therefore, Shibadong Village is the first place for "Targeted Poverty Elimination". The visit of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the proposal of "Targeted poverty elimination" greatly aroused the enthusiasm of the villagers to get rid of poverty and become rich.
They all said that they cannot rely solely on the government, but must rely on their own efforts to realize their dream of getting rid of poverty, so as to live up to the care of the General Secretary.
Li Xinfeng also specifically told the story of the villagers of Shibadong Village getting rid of poverty and becoming rich. A villager named Long Xianlan had worked in other places for nearly 10 years. When he heard that General Secretary Xi had arrived in the village, he quit his job and went home, and ran to the poverty elimination team to ask for poverty elimination funds, but was told, "Poverty Elimination" It's not about giving money, you have to rely on yourself!" Later, with the help of the poverty elimination team, he learned how to keep bees and became an expert in beekeeping, and his income increased year by year. In 2017, Long Xianlan can be described as double happiness, double harvest in love and career, not only married his beloved girl as his wife, but also took the lead in establishing a professional bee breeding cooperative. On September 4, 2019, the Shibadong Agricultural Tourism and Farmers Professional Cooperative in Huayuan County was established to integrate and transfer the entire village's land, concentrate on planning and developing industries, and develop rural tourism. A young villager named Long Jinbiao became the chairman of the cooperative and led the villagers to start a business and become rich.
Li Xinfeng said that the development and success of targeted poverty elimination and practices in Xiangxi have justified the poverty reduction theories, ideas and practices proposed by the CPC and the Chinese government, including General Secretary Xi Jinping's expositions on precision poverty elimination. All the above efforts have not only advanced the commitment to poverty reduction in China, but also made satisfactory achievements. The case of Xiangxi and the case of China provide guidelines for the world, and will definitely contribute to the progress of the world's poverty reduction efforts.
African experts and scholars participating in the lecture also interacted with the speakers. They discussed and exchanged ideas on how to develop agriculture to alleviate poverty, how to make good use of poverty elimination funds, how to overcome difficulties in poverty elimination, the role of government planning in poverty elimination, and how to embody the people-centered concept in poverty elimination.
（translator：WeiBaige）