China's poverty reduction campaign is the biggest human rights program and most effective human rights practice, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
Guo made the statement when asked to comment on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for expediting international cooperation for the well-being for all peoples at a recent UN General Assembly session.
"To eradicate poverty and hunger is high on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is a shared goal of the international community. As a responsible major developing country, China cares about both the speed and the actual results when it comes to poverty alleviation. China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty and realized the poverty reduction goal of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, accounting for over 70 percent of the world's total," Guo said.
"China has put forward and acted on the Global Development Initiative, continued to upgrade the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund. That is a strong boost to global poverty relief. The rights to subsistence and development are the human rights of primary importance. China's eradication of absolute poverty is the largest human rights program and the most effective human rights practice. China will continue to serve the global good with a strong sense of responsibility, take solid actions to advance the global development cause, and work with other parties to make poverty and hunger a thing of the past and translate the vision of common development into a reality," said the spokesman.
China's poverty alleviation campaign biggest human rights program: spokesman
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.
Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.
Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.
"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.
The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.
Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar
