China is facing a public outcry over its claim that Beijing had “basically won” the war against poverty after Premier Li Keqiang admitted that more than two-fifths of the population made less than $140 a month, reported the Financial Times.
A week after Li announced the figure, saying it was “hardly enough” to rent a home in a big city, academics and netizens raced to question Beijing’s pledge to eradicate poverty by the end of this year.
“Given the current price level, the premier is suggesting 600 million Chinese people are having trouble maintaining a basic living standard,” said a Beijing-based policy adviser, who declined to be named. “The poverty relief [campaign] needs to carry on.”
The backlash has raised questions about whether Beijing could meet one of its biggest policy goals even though President Xi Jinping said in March that China had made “decisive achievements in eliminating poverty.”