China cuts poor population by two-thirds

BEIJING -- China has reduced poverty by more than two-thirds over the past five years, a senior poverty alleviation official said Friday.

There were around 30 million Chinese living below the national poverty line at the end of last year, compared with 98.99 million in 2012, Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, said at a press conference.

"We are closer to the goal of eradicating absolute poverty," Liu said.

Poverty alleviation has become one of China's "three tough battles" for the next three years, as the country aims to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020 in a bid to create a "moderately prosperous society."