Careful use of foreign aid benefits everyone involved
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AP's recent story "China rises and rises, yet still gets foreign aid" was widely circulated in the foreign media. Questions were asked as to whether China, the world's second largest economy, still needs foreign aid.
The logic the story laid out seems to be convincing at first sight. China spent billions of yuan in one of the most impressive ever Olympics in 2008, sent another three astronauts into space in the same year as well, and held an equally successful World Expo this year.
As China announced that it was increasing aid to developing countries, some asked why the country still need to receive money from developed countries, describing it as no less than "robbing the poor" by competing for limited grants. But this analysis missed the whole picture.
In the first response to the AP story, Zhang Kening, commercial counsellor of the Department of International Trade & Economic Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, which handles the country's receiving of foreign aid, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that the charge is "a speculation and slander."
According to UN standards, the number of Chinese living in poverty is 150 million, representing 15 percent of the world's poor. Using 2 percent of the world's $120 billion in official aid to help 15 percent of people living in poverty does not deprive other countries' right to receive assistance.
Saying China no longer needs foreign aid because it is providing assistance to other countries shows a lack of understanding of the history involved. China began to provide assistance to other developing countries 60 years ago to promote South-South cooperation and began to accept foreign assistance only 30 years ago.
As Zhang points out, providing assistance is not contradictory with receiving assistance, because China makes use of its advantages to aid other countries while accepting assistance to make up for deficiencies.
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