14 Jun 2023

With more than 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has eradicated extreme poverty, lifted about 800 million people out of poverty, and brought over 400 million people into the middle-income group. This is a miracle in the history of human civilization and has far-reaching implications for global human rights governance.

China has politically recognised poverty eradication as not only a human right, but also a core one, and has put it into firm, vigorous, and extensive practice. Therefore, China is at the forefront of poverty eradication in the world. It provides great inspiration for all developing countries since almost all of the biggest challenges facing developing countries are related to poverty eradication.

The achievements made in eradicating poverty in the course of Chinese modernisation are much better than those elsewhere. The main reason is the huge difference in human rights awareness between the two patterns. Chinese civilization has never been disrupted in its continuity in the world. In its modernisation drive, China continues to formulate policies based on the people's needs, national conditions, and cultural traditions.

As a Chinese saying goes, "The people are the foundation of a state. When the foundation is strong, the state will be secure."

In other words, the people are the cornerstone of a country, and only by consolidating the cornerstone of the country can the country be peaceful, and how well people's livelihood issues are resolved will determine the future and destiny of a country. Furthermore, as another Chinese saying goes, "issues related to people's livelihoods are paramount."

An important experience from China's reform and opening up in the past few decades is that people's livelihood is paramount. A developing country shall spare no effort to eradicate poverty and improve people's livelihood, which is the top priority of the government's work.

Today's world has entered the 21^st century, but hundreds of millions of people still suffer from extreme poverty. Many developing countries have not yet solved the basic issue of people's livelihood. In this context, we may better understand the global significance of the Chinese path to modernisation.

The Chinese people, through their great practice of poverty eradication, are, in a sense, redefining modernization and modernity.

The China-proposed Global Development Initiative calls for staying committed to development as a priority and a people-centered approach. Only through development can poverty be eliminated and the root causes of many conflicts be removed. Seen from the perspective of human rights protection, this initiative and China's complete set of philosophies and practices for poverty eradication have greatly enriched the philosophy and practice of global human rights governance. Ends