Photo: Hu Yuwei/GT

China's State Council Information Office on Tuesday issued a white paper entitled, "Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and Contribution." It detailed how the Chinese people fought with poverty over the past century under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and how they won the arduous war. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, with the guidance and supervision of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC Xi Jinping, China completed its new-era task of poverty alleviation in eight years. It not only realized the dreams of the Chinese people, but also made great contributions to the global poverty reduction cause and human development.

The white paper makes a highly condensed record of this landmark event and shows the world the tough process, valuable experience and huge achievement of China's poverty alleviation. It tells the story of the 100-year work, explains why China gained success, and systematically summarized China's poverty alleviation theory.

As the first sentence of the preface of the white paper says, "Poverty is a chronic affliction of human society and a common challenge faced by the whole world." Therefore, China's war on poverty has from the very beginning had major global implications. The experience and theory China has explored during this process not only belongs to China but also the world. It opens humanity's mind on how to tackle poverty and provides a new path for humanity's anti-poverty task.

The poverty alleviation path with Chinese characteristics is composed of six parts. It was centered on the people, placed poverty alleviation at a prominent place in national governance, wiped out poverty with development, advanced the process based on reality, let the poor people play a major role, and gathered the strengths from all sides. This is a successful path explored by the Chinese people via long-term arduous work. What is particularly impressive is that the white paper said, "More than 1,800 Party members and officials have lost their lives in the cause of poverty alleviation." They fulfilled their commitment that they could sacrifice everything for the people. The leadership of the CPC is undoubtedly the key in winning this war on poverty.   

Out of a complex of motives, some Western countries are engaging in a new round of campaigns to slander and stigmatize China's human rights. China's comprehensive victory in poverty alleviation of the largest scale with most efforts to benefit the largest number of people in history is the most resolute counterattack to the smears. Has any other country obtained greater progress in terms of guaranteeing human rights? China's victory of poverty alleviation is the success of the political philosophy China has been adhering to, which focuses on overall progress of society and people's livelihood.

China pays no lip service in guaranteeing human rights. Its efforts have actually laid a solid foundation for people to seek a higher-level of human rights. The white paper has once again proven that those human rights slogans regardless of development realities, national conditions and people's basic needs are unreliable. Human rights development must start from seeking truth from facts. To some extent, US politics is more engaged in empty words than real moves - it uses beautiful words but solves no problems. The US regime is essentially at the service of a minority of people.

In the conclusion, the white paper says, "Removing the label of extreme poverty is not the end, but the beginning of a new life and a new journey." All 1.4 billion Chinese people, both those who have helped alleviate poverty and those who were in need of help, have been part of this extraordinary journey in history. China still is the largest developing country in the world, facing arduous tasks while shouldering tough missions. However, the Chinese people have strong confidence and ability to create a better life. The future of this country must be full of hope.