Rather than how much funds it will provide, China's leading role in the global fight against poverty should be defined in terms of how many hands-on experience it can pass on to other developing countries to help them meet their development challenges and alleviate poverty in the process.

In New York, where world leaders had gathered for the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping's pledge of billions of dollars in aid and debt forgiveness for the poorest nations was surely welcome.

It was a clear sign that China, the largest developing country that has lifted as many as 439 million people out of poverty since launching reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, is assuming a greater global role and more actively helping the international community to achieve the new development goals, especially the goal to end extreme poverty by 2030.