Civil Affairs Minister Li Jiheng pledged on Sunday to strengthen supervision to curb misconduct within the social relief system, which is considered a crucial bottom-line buffer that could be used to help the last remnant of China's have-nots escape dire poverty before 2021.
Li made the remarks at a national civil affairs work conference held Sunday in Beijing.
In a report delivered at a bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, which opened in Beijing on Monday, a 16-page report focused on the relief system's role in helping combat absolute poverty-defined as a family living on less than 2,300 yuan a year, set in 2010 and adjusted annually for inflation. The central authorities have pledged to eradicate absolute poverty by the end of next year.
China allocated 562 billion yuan as subsidy funds to help people in need from 2016 to 2019. The funds were used to help people in extreme poverty, orphans, the homeless and beggars, among others.
