Party's fulfillment of its promise is historic contribution to world's anti-poverty cause: China Daily editorial

Over the past eight years, more than 1,800 Party members working at grassroot levels across the country have lost their lives while striving for the poverty elimination cause. Their sacrifice and spirit are vivid demonstrations of the Communist Party of China's commitment to the goal of eradicating abject poverty in the country.

That's why President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, paid high tribute to them and those working on the front line of the war without smoke, when addressing a grand gathering in Beijing on Thursday in which he declared a "complete victory" had been won.

The announcement marked the fulfillment of a solemn promise made to the people and the country by the CPC, and the accomplishment of a "miracle" that will go down in history.

The achievement comes after eight years in which nearly 100 million rural residents of 128,000 villages in 832 counties were lifted above the national poverty line thanks to a series of effective poverty alleviation measures adopted by the country under the leadership of the Party. It constitutes the grandest poverty reduction project in human history.

It has been accomplished thanks to the dedicated and targeted efforts over those eight years to tackle the most intractable poverty to ensure that no one was left behind.

The eradication of abject poverty in the country has been essential for the realization of the Party's first centenary goal of building a moderately well-off society in all respects, and has laid a solid foundation for the second, which is for China to be a strong, prosperous, modern socialist country by 2049.

The poverty alleviation project has demonstrated the institutional advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and the strengths of the Party's leadership, as personnel and huge amounts of funds and resources have been mobilized across the country to guarantee that all impoverished residents were lifted out of poverty. Dozens of one-on-one partnerships have also been established between local governments so as to provide customized poverty alleviation plans for the needy regions.

To some extent, the better-off regions have made indispensable contributions to help lift their poor counterparts out of poverty, by providing not only funds, guidance and resources, but also jobs, training, techniques and channels.

As such, the poverty reduction project has been fully integrated into the national development plan, and it is being conducted alongside the improvement of local infrastructure and public services, so as to guarantee the sustainability of the project.

China has now realized the poverty reduction objectives set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years in advance of the deadline. Since it launched the reform and opening-up policies in the late 1970s, China has lifted 770 million people out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction population according to the standards of the World Bank.

Standing at the starting line of the next stage of its journey, China will continue to make all-out efforts to let its people enjoy a stronger sense of gain and happiness.