An event to introduce China's vicotry on poverty alleviation co-organized by the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC (IDCPC) and the Guizhou provincial Party committee which invited more than 200 foreign political leaders and representatives from more than 70 political parties in 16 Latin American countries to attend virtually. Photo: courtesy of IDCPC

When the US launched a series of ideological offensives against China and the Communist Party of China (CPC) on different occasions, the Party showed its confidence to the world by demonstrating its latest achievements on poverty alleviation and epidemic control, with foreign ambassadors praising that China's victories on these issues are the best response to the stigmatization made by US officials and media.

Last week, a county in Southwest China's Guizhou Province livestreamed to the world a decision-making meeting of local officials on poverty alleviation, sharing its experience with other countries.

The meeting on the production and sales of chayote, a kind of gourd imported from South America that has become a local cash cow, was held on September 22 by the Standing Committee of the Huishui County Committee of the CPC. This is the first time the CPC showed its grass-roots Party branch's policymaking process openly to the world via live stream.

The broadcast of the meeting is a part of an event co-organized by the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC (IDCPC) and the Guizhou provincial Party committee which invited more than 200 foreign political leaders and representatives from more than 70 political parties in 16 Latin American countries to attend virtually. And some ambassadors from Latin American countries came to Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province for the event.

Located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Huishui used to be an impoverished county and home to 82,000 poverty-stricken residents. By developing industries such as chayote and passion fruit plantations, the county stamped out poverty last year.

Wan Qinghua, secretary of the CPC's Huishui County Committee, said at the meeting that although the county was no longer listed as poor, poverty alleviation work remained important considering the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and floods this year.

"Targeted measures should be implemented to ensure that the entire county will complete the tasks of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the end of this year," said Wan.

Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, secretary-general of Panama's Democratic Revolutionary Party, said that all the decisions made during the meeting were based on discussion and thorough investigations of members from different fields.

"This could serve as an example of the democratic decision-making process of the CPC, and perfectly answers why China was able to make such great achievements in development," he said.

Over the past seven years, Guizhou has transformed from a province with the most impoverished population to one that has lifted the largest number of people out of poverty in China. The impoverished population was reduced from 9.23 million to 308,300, with the poverty rate dropping from 26.8 percent to 0.85 percent during this period.

"China will end domestic poverty by the end of this year, which makes the nation a front-runner in reaching the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals," said Song Tao, head of the IDCPC. "We would like to share our experiences with other countries around the world."

"Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the average number of people lifted out of poverty each year has reached 13.7 million," he said.

Juan Fernando Lugris Rodriguez, head of the Latin American diplomat delegation and Uruguay's ambassador to China, said that Latin American and Caribbean countries were also important targets of China's international cooperation on poverty alleviation. In 2019, bilateral trade between China and such countries increased by 19 percent year-on-year.

This kind of achievements made by the Party, in addition to the transparent and democratic decision-making process of the CPC, have showed a totally different image compared to the stigmatization made by US officials and media against the CPC recently, and many foreign attendees also said the CPC's success on poverty alleviation would be helpful for Latin American countries and other developing countries in fighting poverty. 

Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernández, the Cuban ambassador to China, told the reporters at the venue in Guiyang after the event that recently some Western politicians and media outlets have put forward many irresponsible accusations and stigmatizations against China and the CPC regarding COVID-19 and other issues, but China's victories in fighting poverty and the epidemic "are the best response" to these ideological offensives.

The Latin American diplomats also visited the Guizhou Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Area Exhibition Center and travelled to certain villages and counties in Guizhou to see the successful examples of poverty alleviation from September 22-24, and the delegation flew back to Beijing on Thursday.