This year marks the fifth anniversary of the monumental declaration by President Xi Jinping, in February 2021, of China's complete victory in the fight against absolute poverty. The country's alleviation of the poverty problem over its recent history is nothing short of a miracle that holds valuable lessons for all countries.

The victory was the culmination of an eight-year campaign that lifted nearly 100 million rural residents out of absolute poverty across the entire country. It came on the heels of a critical turning point in 2012, when targeted poverty alleviation became a central political priority.

The phenomenal triumph over poverty is a most dramatic transformation of the mass poverty situation since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The hallmarks of the targeted poverty alleviation approach are the precision data-centric emphasis on six areas — accurate identification of poor households, targeted projects, efficient capital use, household-specific measures, appropriate cadre deployment, and goal fulfillment.

In addition, the operational focus is built on a model that covers industry-led poverty alleviation, relocation from uninhabitable or ecologically fragile areas, compensation for ecological protection, education to break intergenerational poverty, and social security for those unable to work.

The success of the national poverty alleviation plan is due to a unique dual-pillar model of growth plus governance.

The critical impetus is built on economic growth in agriculture and industry, as these areas have created jobs that in turn generated income opportunities.

In parallel, a well-coordinated system was fostered to implement the desired agenda under which millions of grassroots cadres were coordinated and mobilized to reach out to the highly localized grassroots levels.

The entire setup has been rooted in a people-first, livelihood-centered governance philosophy.

Even five years down the road since the announcement of victory over absolute poverty, the strong-dual-pillar fundamentals have served well to sustain the momentum of income progress for those lifted from poverty. In the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, regular mechanisms will be developed to prevent relapses into poverty. The possibility of poverty relapse will also be avoided through increased development-based assistance, rather than one-off subsidies, to assure long-term growth capacity in formerly poor areas. In addition, key rural counties will continue to be revitalized to mitigate any reversion to the former situation.

The five-year plan specifically considers employment as the first line of defense, whereby high-quality, full employment is front and center for improving livelihoods. Furthermore, skills upgrading is a central focal point that will link job quality with job security, as jobs are indeed the best buffer for sustainable poverty alleviation.

Yet another major stipulation of the plan is to refine income distribution, which will shrink the extremes of wealth and poverty alike.

This reframes poverty as an issue of income distribution and not as a separate "silo" policy matter. The integrated thinking has signaled that poverty, as a resolved problem, is being mainstreamed into the broader economic policy framework, thus institutionalizing its place in the overall national strategic blueprint.

The Chinese development story has thus moved from a "war on poverty" to an "enhancing social harmony and sustainable development" narrative, in which the social sustainability aspects of employment and empowerment, as well as prosperity with protection, are the mainstay. The major recognition is that humans will be a core capital that is crucial for national advancement. This recasting consolidates all previous poverty alleviation efforts into forces that will eventually turn China into a great modern socialist country.

Indeed the complete victory in the fight against absolute poverty has enabled China to achieve the no-poverty goal set by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. And China has done so a full decade before the deadline. The speed and scale of China's poverty reduction are probably unparalleled in world history.

A famous proverb says that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The human society of China has resolutely resolved one of its weakest links, poverty, and is on track in its quest for high quality of life for all.

Victory is sweet, and China will probably not rest on its laurels. Achieving a miracle may be easier than sustaining the miracle. But with the current leadership's resolve and the people's determination, poverty may well be relegated to a chapter in the Chinese history book.

The author is director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability as well as professor in practice of strategy and policy at National University of Singapore's Business School.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.