President Xi Jinping Claims China's Victory In Poverty Eradication

Presiden China Xi Jinping. (Wikimedia Commons / Planalto Palace)

JAKARTA - Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his administration's 'victory' to eradicate rural poverty, lifting the incomes of nearly 100 million people over the past eight years.

This was conveyed by President Xi at a ceremony in Beijing on Thursday, local time, which he described as one of the milestones in his term.

Xi Jinping's government is also trying to frame economic achievements as Xi's gifts to China ahead of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party in July.

Over the past eight years, an estimated 98.99 million people in rural areas have been lifted from extreme poverty, according to Al Jazeera. In addition, as many as 832 poor districts and 128 thousand villages in China have also been removed from the poverty list.

Since the launch of reforms and openness in the late 1970s, 770 million poor rural people have overcome their privacy based on China's current poverty line.

Beijing defines poverty as a level of income at or below the rural poverty line of 4,000 yuan (US $ 619) or less per year. This figure is up from 2,625 yuan (US $ 406) in 2012, according to Xinhua.

China also says it has contributed more than 70 percent to global poverty reduction during the same period. In comparison, the World Bank poverty line is pegged at US $ 693.5.

"I am determined to see real poverty, understand the real efforts to overcome it, help those who are in poverty, to achieve real poverty alleviation," Xi Jinping told Bloomberg.

In a policy statement on Sunday, China pledged to stick to its poverty reduction policies while making some adjustments for the five-year transition to what Beijing calls rural revitalization.