Xi declares end to extreme poverty in China, meeting party goal

After assuming leadership of the Communist Party eight years ago, Xi made the drive to eliminate extreme poverty by 2020 one of his top goals.

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared victory in an eight-year drive to eradicate extreme poverty in the world’s most populous nation, a key goal of the ruling Communist Party.

“We have achieved in a timely manner the poverty alleviation goal of the new era,” Xi said at a meeting on Thursday of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, China’s supreme decision-making body, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. He added that the incomes of nearly 100 million people had moved above China’s official poverty line -- defined as those who earn less than 11 yuan ($1.68) per day -- during that