Although it is in the midst of an economic boom, China still needs financial help from the World Bank, which now totals US$1 billion annually, to reduce widespread poverty, particularly in the country's countryside, the bank's chief Paul Wolfowitz said, citing the nearly 200 million Mainlanders still living in "extreme poverty". Wolfowitz, who made the comments in his visit to Tokyo, the first stop in his tour of Asia, also said the bank is "in a process of moving from China as a major recipient of World Bank assistance to … at some point in the future … become a significant donor to the World Bank".
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