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
