People smugglers exploit development gaps

Six days after the bodies of 39 migrants were found in a truck container in Essex, Britain, it is still a mystery how they were cheated into taking on such a tragic and fatal journey.

While our sympathy goes to the relatives of these dead migrants and we share their grief for the loss of their loved ones, we call for the world's attention to unbalanced development. It is deprivation caused by underdevelopment that drives poverty-stricken people to risk their lives in their pursuit of a new life elsewhere.

China has made great efforts in the past several decades to realize its goal of lifting all people out of poverty by the end of 2020, mobilizing people from all walks of life in a bid to make it unnecessary for any Chinese to risk their lives in pursuit of a better life in such a way.