I'm Robert Walker. I'm at the same age as the People's Republic of China. I came to China to work at the Beijing Normal University as a professor of public policy.

In the 15 years covered by the millennium development goals, China alone accounted for half of the total fall in poverty recorded globally. That's a great achievement. We know, too, that China will eradicate extreme poverty (in) 2020.

It has done things which I don't think other countries could ever seek to do. It has national, provincial, local, individual policies targeted on alleviating poverty, seeking to work together. It has deployed 750000 or so public officials give them personal responsibility for helping particular named families to move out of poverty. We have cities on the eastern side of China sending resources and expertise to the west. We have commercial organizations operating in a similar way, supporting small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs in other parts of the country. These are achievements which I think could only be mobilized in China.

Robert Walker is a professor of public policy.