Ruan Zongze, a leading Chinese scholar of international relations, told the audience at the online Vision China event on Wednesday that while he was working with the United Nations about a decade ago, he was amazed by the power his country's fight against poverty had to inspire others.

As the executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, Ruan served as an advisory panel member on the UN Development Programme's Human Development Report.

"Poverty reduction was the hot issue on the agenda at every meeting," he said.

Ruan was especially impressed by an African colleague telling him that China's work on fighting poverty was inspiring. "If you can do it," he said, quoting the colleague, "we can, too!" (Read more)