China lifts its poverty alleviation target

The official in charge of China's poverty alleviation affairs has reiterated the country's goal to lift more than 70 million people out of poverty by 2020.

On Tuesday, at a press briefing, head of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development Liu Yongfu said, "The main goal is to ensure poor people in rural areas have access to food, clothes, basic education, medical care, and a safe home by 2020. By that time, poverty shall be eradicated in the rural areas and there will be no more poor counties across the country."

"In the next five years, 600 billion yuan will be allocated to help part of the populations to relocate, decamping the places that unfit for human habitation."

According to Liu, the poverty line in China this year is set around 3,000 yuan ($464) in annual income, which is equaling the purchasing power of 2,300 yuan the poverty line set in 2010.

"It doesn't mean that there is no a single person living in poverty by 2020. Poverty issue will remain in China for a long time because China is still a developing country," Liu said, adding that poverty in different era carries different meaning.

Last week, a guideline on poverty alleviation was jointly issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. The document described the goal of eliminating poverty to be the most arduous task on China's path toward building a moderately prosperous society.

According to the leading group office, more than 600 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty in the past three decades, about 70 percent of the total global achievement.

At the end of last year, just over 70 million people in China's countryside lived the domestic poverty line (2,300 RMB in annual income by 2010 price standards).