China allocated 4.84 billion yuan (US$598 million) as
poverty-reduction fund to eight provincial-level regions across the
country where ethnic minorities live in compact communities last
year, according to official statistics.
The amount was 470 million yuan (US$58 million) more than the
previous year and accounted for 40.2 percent of the central poverty
reduction fund, according to the Leading Group Office for Poverty
Alleviation and Development of the State Council, China's
cabinet.
The eight provincial-level regions are Inner Mongolia, Guangxi,
Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai, where live
most of the country's ethnic minorities.
The Chinese government has given priority to these less
developed regions in the allocation of poverty-reduction fund every
year, while issuing preferential policies to boost development
there, said the office.
From 1998 to 2005, the central government provided a total of
3.02 billion yuan (US$373 million) in special funds for the
development of ethnic minorities, especially in infrastructure
construction, and education, health and cultural sectors.
Since 1991, some World Bank-supported poverty-reduction programs
have been carried out in six of the eight provincial-level regions
including Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Yunnan, Guizhou and
Qinghai, involving a total of US$610 million.
The area practicing regional autonomy for ethnic minorities in
China accounts for 64 percent of the entire territory of the
country. Of the 55 ethnic minorities, 44 have their own ethnic
autonomous areas. The population of ethnic minorities practicing
regional autonomy accounts for 71 percent of the total population
of ethnic minorities in China, according to the fifth national
census conducted in 2000.
Most of the ethnic minority people live in the border area of
the country, according to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.
Of the 135 border counties, 107 have their own ethnic autonomous
areas, and the population of ethnic minorities accounts for 48
percent of the 21 million people in the border area.
To help the ethnic minorities in the border area to reduce
poverty, the commission initiated a special program since 1998,
which was also meant for a prosperous border area.
From 2000 to 2005, the central government allocated a total of
369 million yuan (US$46 million) to support the program in 37 of
the border counties.
The program will be extended to cover more border counties
inhabited by ethnic minorities in the future, to help these
underdeveloped counties catch up with the other parts of the
country when the government is seeking coordinated development of
the frontier and the inland areas, said an official with the
commission.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2006)
