Global Times: Expanding 'incremental space' for China's future
BEIJING, Dec. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- History often becomes clearer with the passage of time.
The far-reaching significance of China's victory in the battle against poverty is becoming increasingly evident. It marks a major milestone in the path to Chinese modernization, represents a decisive step toward common prosperity for all people, and carries profound implications for world modernization.
The recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) firmly grasp the goal of common prosperity and deploy a series of balanced and accessible policies and measures to safeguard and improve people's livelihoods.
The Central Economic Work Conference stressed the need to coordinate investments in physical assets and investments in human capital, while calling for sustained efforts to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), fiscal investment in people's livelihood accounted for more than 70 percent of the national general public budget expenditure. Allocating more financial resources to "invest in people" reflects the development principle of prioritizing people's well-being.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 18, 2024, delivered an important speech at Session I of the 19th G20 Summit under the title "Building a Just World of Common Development." Studying the speech now, we have gained a deeper understanding of the original aspiration and founding mission of Chinese Communists.
"Everything China does, it always places the people front and center, and it solemnly declares that 'not a single poor region or person should be left behind'."
"I have worked from village to county, city, provincial and central levels. Poverty alleviation has always been a priority and a major task I am determined to deliver."
"If China can make it, other developing countries can make it too. This is what China's battle against poverty says to the world."
"Being determined to deliver a major task" offers a unique perspective for decoding the success of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in leading the people to win the battle against poverty.
It is thanks to the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the scientific guidance of the Party's innovative theories that China lifted nearly 100 million rural residents out of poverty over eight years, and has since used a five-year transition period to smoothly integrate poverty-alleviation gains with rural vitalization efforts, steadily advancing toward the goal of common prosperity.
Last December, heads of major international economic organizations attending the "1+10" Dialogue noted that China's development achievements are remarkable, especially in the area of poverty reduction, where it has created a human miracle, and the country is at the forefront of the world in terms of developing new quality productive forces. This fully demonstrates that the people-centered development philosophy upheld by the Chinese government is successful and feasible, and has important implications for the world.
Looking at Chinese regions that were lifted out of poverty from a global perspective, historic changes are taking place on at least three levels, which are of historical significance.
From weak links to new engines
From a strategic coordination perspective, China's formerly impoverished regions are shifting from weak links in development to new engines of high-quality growth. By demonstrating resilience and potential in coordinating development with security, they are becoming a key stabilizer amid changes.
Under the strategic blueprint drawn by Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, China's western region has firmly grasped its positioning in the overall national development landscape, adapting measures to local conditions, giving full play to respective strengths, and continuously opening up greater depth in economic development.
Narrowing regional disparities and the gap between urban and rural areas not only leverages late-mover advantages but also unleashes new growth drivers. Deep mountains, deserts, karst caves, grasslands... these once-overlooked "corners" have become important pillars in "developing a regional economic layout and a territorial space system that enable regions to leverage their complementary strengths in pursuit of high-quality development."
Gui'an New Area in Southwest China's Guizhou Province is now directly connected by networks to 42 major Chinese cities, with the world's first 400G computing-power transmission corridor in operation. In Fuyang, East China's Anhui Province, once a frontline in poverty alleviation, the province's second-largest high-speed rail hub has been built, and nearly 800 projects each with investment exceeding 100 million yuan ($14.27 million) from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been launched locally.
A single hybrid millet variety called "Zhangzagu," developed in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province, has been promoted to more than 10 provinces thanks to its drought tolerance and ability to thrive in poor-soil. China's grain output has remained above 700 million tons, recording another increase this year on a high basis.
A single "silver line" now delivers clean electricity from Northwest China's Qinghai Province to central China, supplying one-eighth of Henan's total power consumption with green energy. China has formed a nationwide power transmission network under the west-to-east electricity transfer program, with northern, central and southern corridors linking provinces and regions.
By securing food and energy supplies, China has gained greater confidence and capacity to withstand risks and challenges.
In 2024, the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents increased by 5.8 percent year-on-year in real terms, which was 1.3 percentage points higher than that of urban residents. By firmly grasping the strategic focus of expanding domestic demand and promoting the expansion and upgrading of consumption in rural areas, the strong domestic market will become a more solid and resilient strategic foundation for Chinese modernization.
From distant land to logistics nodes
From the perspective of geographical location, China's formerly impoverished areas are transforming into strategic nodes within the country's new development pattern and a unified national market. They give full play to the important role of rural areas as consumer markets and factor markets, activating a fresh source of momentum for China's development.
Horgos Railway Port in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a once-isolated border town has handled more than 9,000 China-Europe and China-Central Asia freight trains so far this year. The port has evolved from a border town "where the road ends" into a thriving logistics and trade center, fostering industrial clusters in commerce, logistics and equipment manufacturing.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), newly added operating railway mileage in Xinjiang totaled 1,395 kilometers. Projects such as the Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railway and the Heruo railway are knitting together the region's transport network, transforming it from the "railway periphery" to a regional hub.
In Xilin Gol League, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, herders can order saddlery online and receive deliveries directly at pasture. In Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region's Zhongning County, fresh goji berries reach thousands of households within 48 hours. China has already established 346,000 village-level comprehensive logistics service stations nationwide and implemented an express-service coverage rate in incorporated villages of over 95 percent. More than 100 million parcels circulate through rural areas each day.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), 832 counties that have emerged from poverty have each developed two to three leading industries with distinctive advantages and strong spillover effect, generating combined output exceeding 1.7 trillion yuan. Official data show that the per capita disposable income of rural residents in counties lifted out of poverty rose from 12,588 yuan in 2020 to 17,522 yuan in 2024. For four consecutive years, income growth for rural residents in these counties has outpaced the national average.
From backward capacity to driving forces
In terms of driving forces, China's formerly impoverished areas are transforming from the "extensive and backward" old driving forces into the "frontline" of new driving forces, deeply promoting the integration of technological and industrial innovation, developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions, taking on the "golden burden" of agricultural and rural modernization, and accumulating inexhaustible power for development.
In Tianshui, Northwest China's Gansu Province, a big-data-driven smart orchard platform now automatically generates prescriptions for irrigation, fertilization and pest-control, moving from "farming by experience" to "data-driven cultivation" and boosting apple quality.
In Zhangwu County, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, modern agricultural techniques have substantially increased corn yields and helped develop "Zhangwu sweet potatoes" as a national geographical indication product.
Photovoltaic power stations are "planted" on rooftops and barren hills, and villagers receive dividends; from solar streetlights to new-energy vehicles and electric bicycles, from heated brick beds fueled by burning firewood to electric heated beds, green electricity is illuminating and improving the lives of villagers.
Across China today, photovoltaic panels blanket the Gobi Desert in a vast "blue ocean," wind turbines stand tall like forests amid the clouds on the grasslands, and forest carbon sinks turn "green" into gold. By synergistically promoting carbon reduction, pollution control, ecological expansion, and economic growth, China is continuously broadening the pathways for transforming lucid waters and lush mountains into invaluable assets. Green development is becoming the distinctive hallmark of regions lifted out of poverty, helping turn shortcomings into springboards.
Charging toward "new" opportunities and pursuing "green" progress, viewing China's overall development landscape from the perspective of regions lifted out of poverty, we are brimming with confidence, solid foundation, and abundant strength.
SOURCE Global Times
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