In order to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on poverty alleviation work, Foreign Minister Wang Yi traveled to Jinping County and Malipo County, two border counties in Yunnan Province which are the assisting targets of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), to carry out inspection and investigation and extend regards to cadres at the forefront of poverty alleviation from February 11 to 13, 2018.

Wang Yi and comrades from Poverty Alleviation Office at the MFA trekked in Yunnan Province, drove over 1,500 kilometers to the thatched cottages in the countryside, and made extensive contacts with cadres stationed in villages and cadres in charge of rural poverty alleviation who have fought long and hard at the forefront of poverty alleviation in the two counties. They also visited and interviewed many registered severely poor households and sent festival greetings as well as gifts. They sat around the furnace and talked with members of the poor households, and encouraged them to believe in the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the government, build confidence in poverty alleviation, irradiate endogenous impetus and create a better life with their own hands under the assistance of the CPC and the government.

Wang Yi also inspected industrial poverty alleviation projects of the MFA including the black fungus planting project of the Nuoma Cooperative and Pengcheng Aquatic Products Cultivation Specialized Cooperative, and visited the poverty alleviation projects in education and people’s livelihood assisted by the MFA such as the China-Equatorial Guinea Friendship Primary School and the Entire-Village Advancement of Ping'anpo. Wang Yi met with representatives of teachers and students from Zhemi Lahu Ethnic Township Middle School and Dongyou Primary School in Babu Township which have received the assistance from the MFA, and witnessed the exchange of notes on the MFA’s volunteer cooperation in education as well as on assisting the project of new teaching buildings. Wang Yi said that the MFA’s poverty alleviation work should implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strategic thought on poverty alleviation and development, and stick to the “dual-targeted” strategy based on the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee. The urgent affairs of poverty alleviation should be solved through improving people's livelihood; the intergenerational transmission of poverty should be blocked through education; the healthy body and mind should be restored through healthcare; and the road to wealth should be blazed through industrial poverty alleviation.

The leaders, cadres and the masses of the two counties praised the perseverance and consistence of the MFA in the targeted poverty alleviation for 26 years. The MFA has devoted to undertaking poverty alleviation with all-out efforts and concrete measures, and it has implemented 1,400 poverty alleviation projects so far, benefiting more than 300,000 people. The MFA has actively assisted and cooperated with local Party committee and government and played the due role in solving practical issues and difficulties such as schooling, medical care, drinking water, roads and housing. In recent years, the MFA has also introduced overseas capitals and technology as well as distribution channels, and carried out industrial poverty alleviation with a model of “foundation+cooperative+impoverished individual”, yielding sound results. The cadres for poverty alleviation in rural villages said that they see the MFA as their family. Though they live in the remote areas, they know that their family from the MFA concerns about their wellbeing. Wang Yi noted that the MFA has committed to safeguarding national interests which is the sum total of the interests of every Chinese. Therefore, poverty alleviation is not only the duty of the MFA, but also a specific demonstration of “diplomacy for the people”. Under the wise leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the poverty alleviation cause of China has also made great contributions to the progress of human society and become an important symbol to improve China’s soft power and international influence. Wang Yi expressed that the MFA is not only the family of the people of the two counties, but also the comrade-in-arms at the front of poverty alleviation. The MFA will as always fight side by side with the people of the two counties on the path of poverty alleviation, the building of a moderately prosperous society and the full realization of modernization.

Wang Yi also investigated and learnt about the foreign affairs work of border areas as well as communicated with representatives from the offices of foreign affairs and external assistance as well as boundary affairs workers of the two counties. He thanked the two border counties for the outstanding contributions to guarding and constructing the border regions for many years. He hoped that the cadres of regional foreign affairs will serve the overall national diplomacy and regional economic and social development with more remarkable work and strive to build a more peaceful, friendly and cooperative border on the basis of safeguarding and stabilizing the border areas.