Internal Logic and Significance of Times in Xi Jinping’s Important Exposition of Poverty Alleviation

Bosheng ZHANG, Zisheng YANG

Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Development Institute, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming 650221, China

Abstract Eliminating poverty is the essential requirement of socialism. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, targeted poverty alleviation has become a major strategy for poverty alleviation and development in China. Xi Jinping’s important exposition of poverty alleviation is the theoretical basis and practical guide to direct the effective implementation of China’s targeted poverty alleviation strategy. It has gradually developed into an innovative theoretical system for poverty alleviation and development in the new era, with meticulous internal logic and a reputation for the significance of the times at home and abroad. Xi Jinping’s thought of targeted poverty alleviation is the development and innovation of the theory and practice of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics. It is an important guarantee for China to win the battle to get rid of poverty and build a well-off society in an all-round way, and has contributed China’s wisdom and China’s plan to reducing poverty in the world.

Key words Xi Jinping, Targeted poverty alleviation, Internal logic, Significance of the times

1 Introduction

Eliminating poverty, improving people’s livelihood, and gradually realizing common prosperity are the essential requirements of socialism. From reform and opening up to the 18th CPC National Congress, according to the new poverty standards, China has successfully lifted nearly 700 million people out of poverty and made remarkable achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. However, in terms of labor capacity and living conditions, the remaining more than 70 million poor people are basically at the bottom, and it is extremely difficult to get rid of poverty[1]. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has placed poverty alleviation and development in an important position in the administration of the country and incorporated it into the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout. It has been promoted to the strategic height related to building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing the goal of the first century, and has become one of the three major battles during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

In 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed targeted poverty alleviation for the first time. In 2014, he further put forward the concept of "targeted" poverty alleviation, which includes refined management, targeted allocation and targeted support. In November 2015, at the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development, the General Secretary systematically expounded a series of important ideas, such as "six precises", "five batches" and "four issues" and further improved the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty reduction, and comprehensively deployed the 13th Five-Year Plan to combat poverty[2]. On November 29 of the same year, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued theDecisiononWinningtheFightagainstPoverty, which explicitly proposed that we should ensure that the rural poor will be lifted out of poverty under China’s current standards by 2020, and all the poor counties will get rid of poverty to solve regional poverty as a whole. Up to now, under the guidance of a series of profound and concrete expositions by General Secretary Xi Jinping on strategic orientation of poverty alleviation and development, overall deployment and work requirements, targeted poverty alleviation has achieved remarkable results. The number of people living in rural poverty in China decreased from 70.17 million at the end of 2014 to 30.46 million at the end of 2017, with an average annual reduction of 13.236 6 million. During the same period, the incidence of poverty decreased from 7.2%-3.1%, an average annual decrease of 1.37%[3]. These pioneering important expositions by the General Secretary on poverty alleviation and development have provided theoretical guidance and practical guidance for resolutely winning the battle to get rid of poverty and building a well-off society in an all-round way.

2 Development course of Xi Jinping’s thought of poverty alleviation

From the point of view of the law of the development of things, we can see that Xi Jinping’s thought of targeted poverty alleviation is inseparable from his rich life experience. Xi Jinping’s idea and practice of poverty alleviation in his early years is the driving force and source of the formation of targeted poverty alleviation thought. In 1969, at the age of 16, Xi Jinping came from Beijing to settle down as a farmer in Liangjiahe Production Team in Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province, and began a seven-year career as an educated youth. The hard life in the countryside had a great influence on the formation of his view of helping the poor. He has a more intuitive and profound understanding of the problem of poverty in China. InMyExperienceofGoingtotheMountainsandGoingtotheCountryside, Xi Jinping said: "The experience of going to the mountains and going to the countryside has enabled me to enhance my feelings for the masses at the grass-roots level. To us Communists, the common people are our source of food and clothing. We must bear in mind the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, bear in mind that we are the public servants of the people, and always bear in mind the concerns of the people."[4]. After a career of educated youth, Xi Jinping was deeply aware of the poverty and suffering of the people at that time, and only bygettingridofpovertycould the people live and work in peace and contentment. His personal experience of sharing joys and sorrows has enabled Xi Jinping to better understand the urgency of eliminating poverty and strengthened his belief and ideal of helping the people out of poverty.

During his tenure in Zhengding, Hebei Province, Xi Jinping often went to the countryside, walked into the village, and closely observed how things are going with the people. Xi Jinping sympathized with the sufferings of the local people. With the joint efforts of Xi Jinping and the people of Zhengding, it finally got rid of "high yield but poor county" after three years. During his tenure in Ningde, Fujian Province from 1988 to 1990, Xi Jinping did a lot of investigation and in-depth research on the governance of poverty in Ningde, Fujian Province. In his bookGettingRidofPoverty, Xi Jinping specially analyzes the thinking of Ningde’s work of getting rid of poverty, holds that poverty alleviation should go after supporting the will, and it is necessary to ideologically play down the "poverty consciousness" and emphasize a series of measures such as promoting "one village, one product", and supporting rural collective economy[5]. During his tenure as the main leader in Fujian Province, Xi Jinping had the courage to innovate, forge ahead, carry out development-oriented poverty alleviation in the province, and created many valuable practices, such as mountain and sea cooperation, couplet-assistance to Minning, cadres stationed in villages, and industrial poverty alleviation. The effect is very obvious[5].

In December 2012, during his inspection in Fuping County, Hebei Province, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the idea that poverty alleviation and development should be tailored to local conditions, and focus on scientific planning, classified guidance, and guidance according to the circumstances[6]. In November 2013, the General Secretary clearly pointed out in Shibadong Village in western Hunan that it was necessary to "seek truth from facts, adjust measures to local conditions, focus on classified guidance, and implement targeted poverty alleviation"[7]. In March 2014, during the deliberations of the Guizhou delegation to the second session of the National People’s Congress, the General Secretary once again explained in detail the targeted poverty alleviation contents and requirements of "meticulous management, precise allocation, and targeted support"[6]. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, Xi Jinping explained the proposal of the 13th Five-Year Plan and took getting rid of poverty as a key issue. In November 2015, he delivered an important speech at the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development, systematically expounded the important ideas of "six precises" and "five batches", and further improved the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation[8].

3 Internal logic of Xi Jinping’s important exposition of targeted poverty alleviation

Xi Jinping’s important exposition of targeted poverty alleviation inherits the characteristics of the times of the evolution of poverty governance in the road of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics, and is the product of the specific historical stage of poverty alleviation and development. It is different from the previous poverty alleviation models such as "relief poverty alleviation", "development poverty alleviation", and "participatory poverty alleviation". "Support who?", "Who to help?", "How to help?" and "How to exit?" are the inherent logic of Xi Jinping’s targeted poverty alleviation. The important poverty alleviation ideas, such as supporting the intellectual ability before helping the poor, and changing the "blood transfusion" into "blood making", reflect the fundamental change of the road of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics from "flood irrigation" to "targeted drip irrigation".

3.1 Identifying accurately and focusing on "Support who"

In the early days, the practice of poverty alleviation in China was mainly "development poverty alleviation". This mainly stems from the fact that China is in the absolute poverty as a whole in the early stage of reform and opening up. According to the poverty line standard of 2 300 yuan in 2010, the total number of poor people in rural areas reached 770.39 million in 1978, the incidence of poverty was as high as 97.5%[3], and the proportion of people living in absolute poverty was very large. Development poverty alleviation can cover the poor groups quickly and efficiently. However, with the continuous evolution of the dual system between urban and rural areas, especially the widening income distribution gap, a series of problems in rural areas have become increasingly prominent. The phenomenon of "city prosperity and village decline" such as labor loss, serious lag of infrastructure, lack of public services, land degradation and ecological destruction is becoming more and more obvious. It can be said that the poverty reduction efficiency of "development poverty alleviation" is gradually decreasing, and the idea of poverty alleviation and development driven by rapid economic growth is difficult to completely eradicate the problem of absolute poverty in rural areas. There is an urgent need to take more targeted poverty alleviation measures to overcome the difficulties.

An targeted grasp of the object of support, namely a clear understanding of "Support who?", is the basic premise for the effective implementation of help measures. The targeted identification of the supporting object means that the main contradiction of the problem is grasped. This requires a thorough investigation of the basic elements such as the number of people living in poverty, the degree of poverty and the causes of poverty, which is the basis of "targeted poverty alleviation". On January 25, 2014, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued theOpinionsonInnovativeMechanismsforPromotingPovertyAlleviationandDevelopmentinRuralAreas. For the first time, it clearly proposes registering each poor household and building a national poverty alleviation network information system in accordance with the principles of county as a unit, targeted identification and dynamic management. From April to October of the same year, 800 000 people were organized to carry out targeted identification work, a total of 128 000 poor villages and 89.62 million rural poor people were identified, and a national unified information system for poverty alleviation and development was established. Subsequently, in order to further ensure the accuracy of the identification, the country mobilized nearly 2 million people to carry out registration again to "look back", and recorded 8.07 million poor people, and eliminated 9.29 million people who were not precisely identified previously, and the accuracy of identification was further improved[10].

3.2 Sending people precisely and focusing on "Who to help"

"Who to help?" reflects the layer-by-layer implementation of responsibility and multi-party cooperation. According to the work thinking of the secretaries at the provincial, municipal, county, township and village levels to help the poor, village-level grass-roots organizations are the most direct carrier to achieve targeted help. It is the most sensitive unit of poverty perception. At the same time, it also puts forward higher requirements for the comprehensive management ability of village-level grass-roots organizations. The objective fact is that cadres in poor villages generally have a low level of education, an older age, a traditional and even solidified way of thinking. As a result, the governance of poverty at the village level is not ideal. The only way to solve this contradiction quickly and effectively can only be through the introduction of external forces, through the extensive mobilization of grass-roots cadres to implement village assistance, and effectively solve the problem of "Who to help?". In accordance with the unified arrangements of the central authorities, village task forces should be stationed in each poor village. The person responsible for helping is assigned to each registered poor household to achieve full coverage. By the end of 2016, a total of 775 000 cadres had been stationed in villages to help them, and 188 000 outstanding cadres had served as first secretaries in poor villages, thus opening up the "last kilometer" of targeted poverty alleviation[11].

3.3 Helping precisely and focusing on "How to help""How to help?" is the most critical link in targeted poverty alleviation, with emphasis on help measures. In 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out the "five batches" of "targeted poverty alleviation" for the first time at the 2015 Global High-level Forum on Poverty Reduction and Development[8]: "developing production to lift a batch of people out of poverty"; "relocating to lift a batch of people out of poverty"; "ecological compensation to lift a batch of people out of poverty"; "developing education to lift a batch of people out of poverty"; "social security to support a batch of people". To a certain extent, it can be seen that the current rural poverty has changed from "economic poverty" to "multi-dimensional poverty". According to the principle of classified policy implementation for the "five batches", it pays attention to the diversity and complexity of poverty itself, and points out the direction of "how to help" in view of the causes of poverty.

3.3.1The development of production is the driving force. The development of production is the fundamental driving force of regional economic and social development. Relying on the resource endowment of poor areas, it is necessary to adhere to the market orientation, give full play to the role of farmers’ cooperative organizations, leading enterprises and other market subjects, and establish and improve the targeted support mechanism from industry to household and to people. Each poverty-stricken county should build a number of characteristic industries with strong ability to get rid of poverty and great potential for development. Each poor township and village should form characteristic leading products, strive to improve the labor skills of the poor, and steadily increase the operational and property income of poor households. Industrial development should focus on poverty alleviation by agriculture and forestry, tourism, e-commerce, asset income and science and technology[12].

3.3.2Relocation to solve external constraints. Natural geographical environment is an important influencing factor of regional economic and social development. Many poor counties or poor areas are located in ecologically fragile areas with extremely poor natural geographical environment, which has made it difficult to develop for a long time. Through the relocation for poverty alleviation, the poor people in the area where they cannot support themselves can be lifted out of poverty, and efforts can be made to solve the constraints of the external environment. By the way of relocation, we can achieve the optimal allocation of external resources, and rebuild a good "production-life-ecology" space for the poor farmers. This ensures that poor families with the ability to work have access to follow-up development, channels for transfer employment, a sustained increase in income, and a guarantee for medical treatment and schooling, so as to ensure that people can move out of poverty, get out of poverty and become rich.

3.3.3Ecological compensation to promote balance. The implementation of ecological protection compensation is an important part of the construction of ecological civilization system, and it can mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties, so it is an important means to protect the ecological environment[13]. Ecological compensation embodies the external value of ecological environmental protection, and brings the harmony of ecological environment at the expense of the opportunity cost of economic and social development. Ecological compensation is the lever to balance the development gap between protected areas and development zones in order to make up for this opportunity cost. For the poor areas caused by ecological protection, the ecological compensation mechanism is very important.

Xi Jinping’s important conclusion that "Green water and green mountain is gold mountain and silver mountain"[14]also reflects that the green development concept of attaching importance to the protection of ecological environment will become the new normal of the development of the times, and for a long time in the future, ecological compensation mechanism will become an important means to promote regional balanced development.

3.3.4Developing education for long-term development. To eliminate ignorance goes before poverty alleviation, and to improve intellectual ability goes before poverty alleviation. At present, rural poverty often has obvious characteristics of intergenerational transmission, and most of the people in need lack the necessary knowledge and ability to get out of poverty. Breaking the "intergenerational transmission" is based on education, and it is necessary to realize the coverage of compulsory education to poor areas, and ensure that children from poor families go to school. It is necessary to improve the conditions for running schools in poor areas, strengthen the construction of educational infrastructure, improve relevant policy support, strengthen the construction of rural teachers, and vigorously raise the level of rural education. At the same time, it is necessary to gradually strengthen vocational skills education in rural areas, strive to improve the technical level of labor skills of young and middle-aged people, and enhance the employment competitiveness of the existing labor force. On this basis, it is necessary to fully subsidize the poor students at the stage of higher education to complete their studies, so that the poor students can really change their fate by relying on knowledge. This is the fundamental way to eradicate poverty based on long-term development.

3.3.5Setting up bottom line for security. The bottom line of social security has its clear object of support. Seriously ill farmers, disabled farmers, elderly farmers, widowed farmers, and the poor families who have no ability to work and have no support are the focus of protection. It is necessary to ensure their basic livelihood in the form of minimum security, five guarantees, and so on. It is different from industrial poverty alleviation, employment poverty alleviation and other help measures. It has its own development ability, and builds the bottom line of survival for the poor people. In accordance with the relevant policies and regulations on the effective convergence of the two systems of minimum security and poverty alleviation, for the minimum security policy, we should adhere to the principles of combining support with guarantee[15].

3.4 Exiting precisely and focusing on "How to exit""How to exit?" is based on the standard of getting rid of poverty. General Office of the CPC Central Committee and Office of the State Council issued theDecisionsonWinningtheFightagainstPoverty, which clearly pointed out that households are the basic units for the exit of the poor, and the measurement criteria are mainly that the annual per capita net income of the household steadily exceeds the national poverty alleviation standard. The incidence of poverty is the main criterion for measuring the exit of poor villages and counties, and it in principle requires that the incidence of poverty be reduced to less than 2% (below 3% in the western region). At the same time, for poverty exit, we should carry out third-party assessment, achieve mass participation, transparent process, strengthen supervision and inspection, and ensure that the results of poverty alleviation are true and credible[16]. The introduction of third-party assessment mechanisms has greatly promoted the accuracy of poverty exit. In accordance with the principle of "promoting reform by evaluation", it is necessary to use the results of the evaluation to measure the effectiveness of targeted poverty alleviation and development, and force all localities to fulfill their responsibilities and achieve accurate exit.

4 Significance of Xi Jinping’s important exposition of targeted poverty alleviation

Xi Jinping’s thought of targeted poverty alleviation is gradually formed and developed in the process of guiding our country to get rid of poverty. It is constantly improving and becoming more and more mature in the practical logic of "Support who?", "Who to help?", "How to help?" and "How to exit?". It is a great practical achievement on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and has the significance of the times at home and abroad.

4.1 It is the development and innovation of the theory and practice of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristicsAgainst the background of building a well-off society in an all-round way, Xi Jinping’s thought and concept of targeted poverty alleviation is the summary, condensation and sublimation of China’s past experience of poverty alleviation and development. It is also a theoretical innovation formed by Xi Jinping’s long-term grass-roots work experience and in-depth thinking about poverty alleviation work. Closely around the logical system of "Support who?", "Who to help?", "How to help?" and "How to exit?", Xi Jinping put forward important expositions such as "six precises" and "five batches" to solve the difficulties and obstacles on the road of targeted poverty alleviation one by one.

Xi Jinping’s thought of targeted poverty alleviation is obviously practical and theoretical. It not only has epoch-making significance in guiding China to get rid of poverty and building a well-off society in an all-round way, but also elevates the theoretical system of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics to a new historical height. It has become an important part of the thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping, based on the situation of the world, national conditions, poverty situation, has kept pace with the times and taken the courage to innovate, repeatedly issued important expositions and made important instructions on targeted poverty alleviation. These new ideas and new concepts have gradually formed a targeted theoretical system of poverty alleviation with rich connotation and meticulous logic. Its formation is the objective requirement of poverty alleviation work in a specific historical period. It not only points out the direction for the theoretical research of getting rid of poverty, but also provides the fundamental following and action guide for promoting the practice of poverty alleviation and development. We should be soberly aware that we should follow the scientific guidelines of Xi Jinping’s targeted poverty alleviation thought, conscientiously and deeply study and understand the quintessence of Xi Jinping’s targeted poverty alleviation thought, comprehensively enhance the theoretical level and practical ability of poverty alleviation, make targeted efforts, and work together to solve key problems. Only in this way can we ensure that the rural poor people can get rid of poverty and enter a well-off society at the same time under the current standards in 2020.

4.2 It is an important guarantee for winning the battle to get rid of poverty and building a well-off society in an all-round wayThe targeted poverty alleviation is a major national strategy for poverty alleviation and development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, is a major political task put forward by the 19th CPC National Congress, and is also an urgent requirement for building a well-off society in an all-round way[17]. China’s poverty alleviation has entered the sprint stage of solving key problems. According to the conventional ideas and methods in the past, the task will be difficult to complete, and it is necessary to adopt an unconventional way to precisely help the poor and get rid of poverty. Accuracy is the essence of getting rid of poverty. We will adhere to a targeted strategy and improve the effectiveness of getting rid of poverty. We must adhere to targeted poverty reduction, targeted poverty alleviation, and must not engage in flood irrigation style poverty alleviation. It is necessary to give policies according to the village, household and people, prescribe the right medicine to the case, and perform targeted poverty alleviation[18]. Xi Jinping pointed out that the success or failure of poverty alleviation and development lies in precision, and it is necessary to find "poverty root cause", clearly know the direction, prescribe the right medicine to the case, and ensure that poverty alleviation work can really help the poor[19].

Xi Jinping’s thought of targeted poverty alleviation is to scientifically reveal the development law and objective requirements of poverty alleviation and development work on the basis of grasping the new situation and characteristics of rural poverty in our country as a whole. It has innovated the new path of poverty alleviation and development, and opened a new chapter in the governance of rural poverty. It is the inevitable choice to ensure that we win in the new era, fight well in the battle to get rid of poverty, and build a well-off society in an all-round way.

4.3 It contributes China’s wisdom and China’s program to the cause of poverty reduction in the worldSince the reform and opening up, the Chinese government has been committed to the control of rural poverty. Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core has taken targeted poverty alleviation as a major national strategy, and has achieved remarkable results in reducing poverty. Through the joint efforts of the Chinese government, all sectors of society, the broad masses of cadres and masses in poor areas, and the active help of the international community, more than 700 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty. In 2015, the United Nations Millennium Development goals were basically achieved in China. China has become the first developing country in the global Millennium Development goals to achieve poverty reduction and has made positive contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction[20]. In the course of targeted poverty alleviation, important poverty alleviation measures have been taken, such as "industrial poverty alleviation", "health poverty alleviation", "education poverty alleviation", "relocation poverty alleviation", "ecological poverty alleviation", "tourism poverty alleviation", "science and technology poverty alleviation" and "village assistance". It has provided China’s experience and contributed its wisdom and programs to the cause of poverty reduction in the world. In the keynote speech of the 2015 Global High-level Forum on Poverty Reduction and Development, Xi Jinping said that China will give full play to its role as an international platform for poverty reduction, such as the China International Poverty Alleviation Center, put forward China’s plan, and contribute China’s wisdom, so as to more effectively facilitate the exchange and sharing of experience in poverty reduction among developing countries[20]. As the largest developing country in the world, China has promoted the development of world poverty reduction with its national spirit of "never forgetting its original ideals and aspirations", and its targeted poverty alleviation strategy will certainly lead the world to a new level of poverty reduction.