Centre for New Inclusive Asia presents China's development lessons

Koh King Kee, president of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia, delivered a speech at the Global South Modernization Forum in Beijing on Nov. 21 that summarized China’s development experience and set out lessons intended for the Global South.

He recounted that more than 800 million Chinese people rose out of extreme poverty over four decades and that this decline represented about 70% of global poverty reduction during that period; he added that China announced in 2020 that it had eliminated extreme poverty under its national poverty standard and met the U.N. 2030 Sustainable Development Goals' poverty-eradication target a decade early.

He identified four factors that underpinned the results: strong political commitment with clear targets, fixed timelines and accountability across levels of government; development focused on people through investments in infrastructure, education, medical care and social protection; policies tested through pilots and scaled after evaluation; and a role for private companies, cooperatives and community groups alongside state direction.

He described how the poverty alleviation program began in the late 1970s after reform and opening-up and how experimentation and local adaptation were used; he cited Nujiang county and Yangpo village in Yunnan as examples where relocation to valley settlements, improved access to schools and health care, and new livelihoods such as walnut planting, beekeeping and cultural tourism were paired with training and cooperative models.

“crossing the river by feeling the stones,” Koh King Kee said. “If you want to go fast, go alone; If you want to go far, go together,” Koh King Kee said.

He said the next phase was the pursuit of common prosperity, which he described as reducing inequality, strengthening the middle-income group, revitalizing the countryside and promoting cooperation through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative.