Jiang made the remarks at a working conference on alleviating poverty held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that closed in Beijing on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two-day conference summarized the country’s experience in poverty relief in the last years of the last century and discussed the outline of a new poverty-relief strategy for the decade between 2001 and 2010.

Jiang pointed out that over the last two decades, China has reduced its rural poor population by 220 million, and the proportion of impoverished population to the total rural population went down from 30.7 percent to about 3 percent.

He stressed that success in poverty relief is an important embodiment of the advantages of the socialistic system and proof of the great importance attached by the government and the Party on promoting the cause of human rights, especially the rights of subsistence and development.

Such a success has also contributed greatly to the sustainable development of the economy, and to the maintenance of ethnic harmony and unity, safety of the country’s borders and social stability, Jiang said.

Jiang noted that there are still 30 million people living under the poverty line in rural areas and bringing them out of poverty will be an arduous task.

He stressed that for future poverty relief programs to succeed, the country must advance even further its reforms, uphold the spirit of hard work and diligence, explore new means of development that fits local conditions, and mobilize the whole society in the cause.

Premier Zhu Rongji told the conference that poverty relief will be critical to the attainment of the 10th Five-Year Plan and the building of a well-off society.

He stressed the importance of a new model of thinking and new methods in light of the changes in the economy, adding that economic restructuring must be pursued, and wasting of funds and resources and damages to the environment must be avoided.

(www.eastday.com 05/28/2001)