Chinese Vice Premier Wen Jiabao made the announcement at a working conference on alleviating of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Thursday in Beijing.

According to him, the program has reduced the country’s impoverished rural population to 30 million, which accounts for about 8 percent of the rural population.

The remaining poverty population mainly includes those living in areas where there are extremely bad natural conditions or large numbers of disabled people, he said.

“The basic attainment of China’s poverty-relief goal is a great historic achievement and is the full embodiment of the advantages of the socialist system. It is not only a big event in the history of the Chinese people, but also a phenomenal feat in the history of human beings,” he said.

The vice-premier attributed the accomplishment to the high priority given by the government, realistic goals and approaches, the insistence of poverty-relief through development, mobilization of the whole society and the creative and strenuous working of the people in the poor areas.

Now that the country’s poverty relief has entered a new stage, Wen said the conference will draw up a new plan for poverty-relief between 2001 and 2010.

New tasks in poverty relief and changes in the Chinese society and economy demands that a new approach will be taken by authorities, the vice-premier said.

He called for the combination of poverty relief with the country’s western development strategy, with the restructuring of agricultural production, the improvement of infrastructure and biological environment, and the development of rural education, culture, health and family planning.

The vice-premier promised increased spending by the government on poverty relief and improved management of the fund allocated for this endeavor.

(People’s Daily 05/25/2001)