he Chinese government this week denied that its aid policy in Africa is motivated by a desire to secure natural resources.
On Tuesday, the Chinese vice-commerce minister, Fu Ziying, said foreign aid to Africa was motivated by solidarity. He pointed to China's role in constructing the Tanzania-Zambia railway, which was financed by a $500m interest-free loan from Beijing between 1970 and 1975. "Just as western countries abandoned newly independent Africa, the Chinese came," said Fu. "Sixty nine sacrificed their lives and thousands laboured with the Tanzanian and Zambian people. Why? For friendship."
His comments followed the publication last week of what is understood to be China's first report referred to as a white paper on foreign aid.
The paper said that Chinese aid is essentially "mutual help between developing countries," providing an alternative to donors who impose political conditions on aid recipients.
"China is the world's largest developing country, with a large population, a poor foundation and uneven economic development," said the report. "As development remains an arduous and long-standing task, China's foreign aid falls into the category of south-south cooperation and is mutual help between developing countries."
The report released last Thursday by the Chinese state council's information office, and published in full by the state news agency Xinhua, formally introduces China's foreign aid policy and for the first time provides an official account of how Chinese assistance is managed and distributed.
According to the report, China's budgeted foreign aid swelled by nearly 30% a year between 2004 and 2009. In total, China spent 256.29bn yuan ($38.54bn) in foreign assistance from 1950 to 2009 roughly the same amount the US provided in 2010 alone. More than 40% of Chinese aid (106.2bn yuan) was spent on grants ("aid gratis"). The remaining 60% was split fairly evenly between interest-free loans and concessional loans.
China's grants and interest-free loans come from state finances, said the report, while concessional loans are raised on the market by the Export-Import Bank of China. Unlike many of the world's top aid donors, which have dedicated development agencies such as the UK's Department for International Development, or USAid Chinese foreign aid projects are managed and coordinated directly by China's embassies and consulates abroad.
The vast majority of Beijing's foreign aid is negotiated on a bilateral, country-to-country, basis. According to the white paper, China had offered aid to 161 countries and more than 30 international and regional organisations by the end of 2009. In addition, it had signed debt relief protocols with 50 countries, cancelling 380 mature debts worth 22.58bn yuan ($3.47bn).
While Chinese involvement in large-scale industrial and infrastructure projects abroad has attracted considerable attention, the report says that industrial aid in particular has decreased in importance since the 1980s, when many developing countries turned to the private sector to finance industrial projects and Beijing began to shift its priorities.
More recently, "China has been increasing its aid for agriculture and grain production in particular", says the report. The white paper also emphasises Beijing's interest in technical training programmes, highlighting that Chinese aid in 2009 paid for 1,324 medical professionals to work at 130 institutions in 57 developing countries, and for 11,185 scholarships to foreign students studying in China.
Responding to critics
Beijing has previously made little effort to clarify the scale and scope of Chinese assistance abroad, which has been shrouded in secrecy and speculation.
The report responds to critics who argue that Chinese aid is driven by a hunger for natural resources, saying that the majority of concessional loans, for example, have gone towards the construction of transportation, communications and electricity infrastructure, while less than 9% has gone towards the development of energy and resources such as oil and minerals. For those concerned that Beijing's aid projects abroad rely on imported Chinese labour, the report emphasises technical training programmes and the employment of local workers.
But one of the main criticisms of aid from Beijing has been the lack of transparency in Chinese foreign assistance. While the white paper marks a first formal attempt to broaden public engagement with Beijing's foreign aid policy, it presents its programmes in broad strokes. It provides the first official account of Chinese aid how large the foreign assistance budget is, how fast it is growing, how decisions are made and how aid is managed within the Chinese government but falls short of offering any detailed information on aid flows.
The report claims, for example, that around two-thirds of Chinese assistance goes to the world's least developed and other low-income countries, and that "Asia and Africa, home to the largest poor population, have got about 80% of China's foreign aid". But it fails to provide country-by-country figures for that foreign aid.
It has been suggested that Beijing might be hesitant to reveal details of its foreign assistance programme for fear of provoking domestic criticism. China is home to the world's second largest population of poor people, with more than 200 million living on less than $1.25 per day.
China publishes first report on foreign aid policy | Claire Provost | Global development | guardian.co.uk
On Tuesday, the Chinese vice-commerce minister, Fu Ziying, said foreign aid to Africa was motivated by solidarity. He pointed to China's role in constructing the Tanzania-Zambia railway, which was financed by a $500m interest-free loan from Beijing between 1970 and 1975. "Just as western countries abandoned newly independent Africa, the Chinese came," said Fu. "Sixty nine sacrificed their lives and thousands laboured with the Tanzanian and Zambian people. Why? For friendship."
His comments followed the publication last week of what is understood to be China's first report referred to as a white paper on foreign aid.
The paper said that Chinese aid is essentially "mutual help between developing countries," providing an alternative to donors who impose political conditions on aid recipients.
"China is the world's largest developing country, with a large population, a poor foundation and uneven economic development," said the report. "As development remains an arduous and long-standing task, China's foreign aid falls into the category of south-south cooperation and is mutual help between developing countries."
The report released last Thursday by the Chinese state council's information office, and published in full by the state news agency Xinhua, formally introduces China's foreign aid policy and for the first time provides an official account of how Chinese assistance is managed and distributed.
According to the report, China's budgeted foreign aid swelled by nearly 30% a year between 2004 and 2009. In total, China spent 256.29bn yuan ($38.54bn) in foreign assistance from 1950 to 2009 roughly the same amount the US provided in 2010 alone. More than 40% of Chinese aid (106.2bn yuan) was spent on grants ("aid gratis"). The remaining 60% was split fairly evenly between interest-free loans and concessional loans.
China's grants and interest-free loans come from state finances, said the report, while concessional loans are raised on the market by the Export-Import Bank of China. Unlike many of the world's top aid donors, which have dedicated development agencies such as the UK's Department for International Development, or USAid Chinese foreign aid projects are managed and coordinated directly by China's embassies and consulates abroad.
The vast majority of Beijing's foreign aid is negotiated on a bilateral, country-to-country, basis. According to the white paper, China had offered aid to 161 countries and more than 30 international and regional organisations by the end of 2009. In addition, it had signed debt relief protocols with 50 countries, cancelling 380 mature debts worth 22.58bn yuan ($3.47bn).
While Chinese involvement in large-scale industrial and infrastructure projects abroad has attracted considerable attention, the report says that industrial aid in particular has decreased in importance since the 1980s, when many developing countries turned to the private sector to finance industrial projects and Beijing began to shift its priorities.
More recently, "China has been increasing its aid for agriculture and grain production in particular", says the report. The white paper also emphasises Beijing's interest in technical training programmes, highlighting that Chinese aid in 2009 paid for 1,324 medical professionals to work at 130 institutions in 57 developing countries, and for 11,185 scholarships to foreign students studying in China.
Responding to critics
Beijing has previously made little effort to clarify the scale and scope of Chinese assistance abroad, which has been shrouded in secrecy and speculation.
The report responds to critics who argue that Chinese aid is driven by a hunger for natural resources, saying that the majority of concessional loans, for example, have gone towards the construction of transportation, communications and electricity infrastructure, while less than 9% has gone towards the development of energy and resources such as oil and minerals. For those concerned that Beijing's aid projects abroad rely on imported Chinese labour, the report emphasises technical training programmes and the employment of local workers.
But one of the main criticisms of aid from Beijing has been the lack of transparency in Chinese foreign assistance. While the white paper marks a first formal attempt to broaden public engagement with Beijing's foreign aid policy, it presents its programmes in broad strokes. It provides the first official account of Chinese aid how large the foreign assistance budget is, how fast it is growing, how decisions are made and how aid is managed within the Chinese government but falls short of offering any detailed information on aid flows.
The report claims, for example, that around two-thirds of Chinese assistance goes to the world's least developed and other low-income countries, and that "Asia and Africa, home to the largest poor population, have got about 80% of China's foreign aid". But it fails to provide country-by-country figures for that foreign aid.
It has been suggested that Beijing might be hesitant to reveal details of its foreign assistance programme for fear of provoking domestic criticism. China is home to the world's second largest population of poor people, with more than 200 million living on less than $1.25 per day.
China publishes first report on foreign aid policy | Claire Provost | Global development | guardian.co.uk
