China will not relent until poverty is eliminated: Xi

China’s President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that the country wouldn’t relent in its fight against poverty until it meets its goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2020.

"There should be no retreat until a complete victory is won," President Xi told a panel discussion with deputies from Gansu Province at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's national legislature.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a panel discussion with his fellow deputies from Gansu Province at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing, March 7, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua]

He emphasized that the next two years would be critical, and that an all-out effort had to be made until everyone in China had enough food to eat and clothes to wear, as well as compulsory education, access to basic healthcare, and secure housing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with a deputy from Gansu Province at the annual session of the NPC in Beijing, March 7, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua]

The president warned against the tendency to celebrate short-term gains when it comes to addressing the problem of poverty. He said that claims of success should be grounded in reality, and that the results of poverty alleviation work must be able to stand the test of time.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with a deputy from Gansu Province at the annual session of the NPC in Beijing, March 7, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua]

One of the deputies at the discussion was Tang Xiaoming, the Party chief of Dingxi, one of the poorest regions of Gansu Province. Tang said he was impressed by President Xi’s emphasis on ensuring that poverty alleviation work didn’t just take a quick fix approach. He said this demonstrates that the central government would not tolerate false victories in the battle against poverty, and that grassroots officials must do all they can to prevent this from happing.

Tang Xiaoming, secretary of the Dingxi Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, speaks to the media after attending a panel discussion with President Xi Jinping and other National People’s Congress deputies from Gansu Province in Beijing on Thursday, March 7, 2019. [Photo: CMG]

President Xi visited Yuangudui, one of the impoverished villages of Dingxi before the Lunar New Year in 2013. Tang Xiaoming told President Xi that over 600,000 people in Dingxi had been lifted out of poverty over the past six years, including all of the villagers in Yuangudui.

In recent years, the number of people living in extreme poverty in Gansu Province has more than halved, from 2.56 million in 2016 down to around one million today.