Addressing a meeting on reducing poverty and helping the needy, Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called on leading officials at all levels to do more for people in need, to consolidate the Party's leading position, promote social and economic development and safeguard social stability.

Attending the meeting were Jiang, and the other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee -- Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Hu Jintao, Wei Jianxing and Li Lanqing.

The leaders recognized that it is not an easy task to help impoverished people cope with difficulties in daily life and work.

There are 30 million people still living in poverty in rural China and a significant number of laid-off workers from State-owned firms in urban China despite China's rapid economic growth, rising standard of living and its marked progress in the anti-poverty campaign of the past decade.

Most of the 30 million poor people live in remote areas with harsh natural conditions where it remains a backbreaking job just to produce enough to eat and wear. The areas are often former revolutionary bases in war years and are inhabited by ethnic minority groups.

The leaders held that to help the poor is a top priority in the modernization drive which concerns the overall situation.

The meeting called on governments at all levels to carry out all the policies and measures designed to help poor people in both rural and urban areas, including those of anti-poverty development, disaster control and relief, basic life allowance for laid-off workers from State-owned firms and reemployment.

The meeting also urged Party committees and governments at all levels to take all necessary measures to ensure the impoverished in China have a happy lunar Chinese New Year, the most important traditional festival in China which falls on February 12.

All sectors of society, including non-communist parties, non-governmental organizations, businesses, institutions, colleges and universities and the armed forces, were urged by the leadership to participate in anti-poverty activities, and to cultivate the custom of helping the poor in a lasting drive to eliminate poverty.

The meeting also called on the Party to regard the job of helping the poor people as one of the important ways to improve the Party's work style, closely linking the task of improving the style with helping the people in need.

During the meeting, officials in charge of the country's poverty alleviation organization and labor and social security departments briefed the Party leaders on their work of helping the poor people.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2002)