Aashish Mishra

China has eradicated absolute poverty. Let’s let that sink in. The most populous country on Earth has lifted every single one of its 1.4 billion citizens out of abject poverty. More than 850 million people have been brought out of extreme penury in four decades; more than 100 million of them in the last eight years.
According to the World Bank (WB) figures, nearly 90 per cent of China’s population lived under the poverty threshold in 1981. Now, it is almost zero. The world as a whole has seen an encouraging fall in poverty rates, three-quarters of which is because of China. The improvement in people’s lives is stark, visible and undeniable. The sheer scale of China’s achievement is remarkable; even more so considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it brought. While people in other parts of the world were pushed into extreme poverty, China managed to keep its anti-poverty march on track.
China speaks volumes to what a determined government and dedicated leadership can achieve. The federal government employed every tool at its disposal and effectively mobilised its provincial and community-level mechanisms. President Xi Jinping took it upon himself to see that no one in his country lived in privation. He toured the country, instructed officials and sought results. His motivation in turn motivated others down the line and the whole system devoted itself to ending rural destitution by 2020. It was a little late in meeting that target but that is merely a microscopic smudge on the large global canvas considering that it met the poverty goals set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development nine years ahead of schedule.
There are still problems that remain to be solved. In May last year, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that 600 million people in the country only earned US$ 150 per month. “Hardly enough,” he said, “to rent a room in a medium-sized city.” This was the government’s realisation of a very real problem. China’s population has a low income. But that takes nothing away from the fact that they are not destitute. China, with its unequal geography and societal diversity, has managed to eliminate absolute poverty before the Americas and Europe which is nothing short of an economic miracle.
We in Nepal can benefit a lot from this. For one, we can learn from the Chinese model. While each country’s needs are different and we, as a nation smaller than China, have our own unique profile of poverty, we also have a lot in common with our northern neighbour. We are also a nation with remote mountainous areas, with far-flung lands that do not have access to the national government and, as a socialism-oriented nation, we can develop the same national mechanisms as China. This means that China’s policies can be studied and replicated here, too.
We have distinctively beneficial proximity with China, both geographically and emotionally. China and Nepal have had friendly relations since the time of Chairman Mao and the two countries have cooperated on many significant development projects. There is no reason to believe that China would not share its expertise with regards to poverty alleviation with Nepal. We can also safely expect that our friends to the north will provide any financial assistance that may be required. The recent multiple high-level visits have also further cemented an already strong relationship and have built a momentum that Nepal can capitalise on.
China’s progress is good news for Nepal and Nepalis because it can contribute to our prosperity. By eradicating indigence, the People’s Republic has proven to the world that deprivation is a problem that can be solved, not just managed. We need to learn from China’s experiences and seek to emulate its successes.