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Wolfowitz: China no threat to the world
By Xu Binglan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-17 05:43 On a two-week tour of Asia and Europe, the World Bank president flew directly
to Lanzhou from Tokyo on October 12, before covering about 375 miles by road as
he toured the impoverished province.
The number of people in Gansu living
in absolute poverty dropped from 60 per cent of its total population in 1980 to
7 per cent in 2000.
However, the per capita annual income of its 20
million farmers still stood at less than US$200, compared to the national
average of over US$1,100.
As a result of poverty, levels of education and
healthcare remain low.
In the villages that Wolfowitz visited, slogans
are painted on sand brick walls such as "Parents that don't send their children
to school are irresponsible," a reflection of the low levels of school
enrolment, even for primary education.
A World Bank project has helped
Dongchuan Village, close to provincial capital Lanzhou, carry out a water
diversion project and a farmer relocation project.
However, villagers say
that girls dropping out of primary school for financial reasons is a major
problem.
Annual per capita income is US$120 in Dongxiang County. In the
county's Heping Village, farmers would have been living with widespread
tuberculosis if the government and the World Bank had not initiated a special
programme to provide free check-ups and treatment.
When people in the
West think of China, they think of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, skyscrapers,
trade surpluses and economic growth, Wolfowitz said.
When talking about
China's achievements, World Bank officials focus on poverty reduction -- China
has raised 400 million people out of poverty over the past quarter of a
century.
But that is only part of the China story, Wolfowitz
said.
By the international benchmark of one US dollar per day for living
expenses, China still has nearly 100 million living in absolute poverty, World
Bank economists say.
What Wolfowitz saw in Gansu served as a vivid
"demonstration of how much more work there is to be done," he said.
The
World Bank will continue to work with the Chinese Government in poverty
alleviation, he said.
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