China's experience in eradicating poverty offers valuable lessons for the rest of the world, said Kishore Mahbubani, former permanent representative of Singapore to the United Nations, in an interview aired Friday.
Mahbubani highlighted the historic significance of China lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, describing it as a powerful example of effective governance, in an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Shanghai.
"So, for a country like China to lift 800 million people out of poverty, the sense of personal liberation that people get when they escape poverty is so powerful. I experienced it, I came out of poverty. I can understand how these 800 million people feel. And so the sense of personal liberation is enormous. It takes an incredible amount of good governance to eradicate poverty. And so clearly, China has done some things exceptionally right to be able to rescue so many people from poverty," he said.
He also noted that China's success has reflected governance capacity that merits serious study.
"And if we can move into a world 10 to 20 years from now, where every country in the world replicates what China has done and eradicates poverty, then we would have improved the human condition dramatically. And that's why China's governance needs to be studied carefully by all the countries in the world," said Mahbubani.
China's poverty alleviation experience worth global study: former Singaporean diplomat
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo arrived in Beijing on Sunday to pay an official visit to China from Jan. 25 to 28, at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
During the visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with the Finnish prime minister, while Chinese Premier Li and Chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee Zhao Leji will hold talks and meet with Orpo, respectively, to conduct in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern.
Finland was among the first Western countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and was the first European country to sign an inter-governmental trade agreement with China. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state in recent years, the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership between the two countries has been deepened, and cooperation in various fields has been steadily advanced.
In 2025, bilateral trade between China and Finland exceeded 8 billion U.S. dollars in value, while mutual investment stock surpassed 23 billion U.S. dollars, reflecting sustained enthusiasm of enterprises from both sides for strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation.
During Orpo's visit, China's Ministry of Commerce will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Finnish side on strengthening the work of the China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation, and enterprises from both sides will sign a number of business cooperation agreements, said a spokesperson for the ministry.
Orpo will be accompanied by executives from more than 20 Finnish companies spanning machinery, forestry, innovation, clean energy, food and other key sectors, according to the spokesperson.
China attaches great importance to the development of China-Finland relations, and stands ready to work with Finland to maintain close high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen economic and trade cooperation, promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, foster mutual understanding and collaboration in multilateral affairs, and jointly elevate bilateral relations to a new height, said a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Finnish PM arrives in Beijing for 4-day visit to China
