BEIJING — At a national working conference held in Beijing on Monday, Liu Guozhong, Chinese Vice-Premier and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, outlined key priorities for the nation’s poverty alleviation consolidation efforts, calling for steady progress in rolling out regular assistance mechanisms to protect hard-won anti-poverty achievements.
Addressing attendees, Liu emphasized that preventing large-scale returns to poverty remains a core policy priority, even years after China achieved its goal of eradicating extreme poverty. He noted that 2026 marks the inaugural year for the full implementation of the regular assistance framework, making targeted, forward-thinking action particularly critical this year.
To meet the framework’s goals, Liu urged policymakers to strengthen targeted, timely support for vulnerable groups, prioritize development-driven assistance models that empower communities rather than providing only short-term aid, and expand employment assistance through diverse, multi-channel initiatives tailored to local labor market needs.
He also stressed the necessity of ramping up support for China’s less economically developed regions, further refining the national social security system to cover at-risk populations, and boosting the effectiveness of long-standing East-West regional cooperation schemes and targeted support programs led by central government departments.
The conference concluded with a tangible step forward in advancing this cross-regional cooperation: eight provincial-level administrative regions in eastern China signed formal assistance agreements with 10 provincial-level regions in western China, cementing new partnerships for shared development and poverty prevention work over the coming term.