China working on long-term poverty relief strategy

China's campaign against poverty will not come to an end in 2020, as the country is working on a long-term strategy for poverty reduction, an official said Monday.

"To become a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, our biggest area of weakness lies in rural areas, especially the poor people in rural areas," Han Jun, deputy director of the office of the central agricultural work leading group, said at a press conference.

On Sunday, Chinese authorities unveiled a guideline on winning the battle against poverty by 2020.

In this photo taken Oct. 9, 2015, Yang Jingrong walks through a deserted home of his neighbors who relocated from Dacha village of Xiji county in northwestern China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. [File Photo: AP/Ng Han Guan]

In the past 5 years, China brought 68.53 million people out of poverty. But the country still needs to lift around 30 million people out of poverty.

"We aim to solve the problem of absolute poverty by 2020. To solve the problem of comparative poverty, efforts must be made throughout China's modernization process," Han said.

The new guideline said that China should step up plans for its poverty reduction strategy for the years after 2020. "We are currently working in this respect," Han said.

Among the annual average of 13.7 million people brought out of poverty, the amount who fall back into poverty is "not very large," according to Ou Qingping, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

The amounts for 2016 and 2017 were just around 600,000 and 200,000, respectively, Ou said, adding that China would provide timely support to such groups to ensure that no one is left behind by 2020.