Op-Ed Contributors

White paper: China's foreign aid

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-22 08:02

Meanwhile, it attached greater importance to supporting the capacity building of recipient countries, and kept enlarging the scale of technical training. Officials from recipient countries receiving training in China became an important part in the cooperation of human resources development between China and those countries. In 2000, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was initiated, and it became an important platform for dialogue between China and friendly African countries and an effective mechanism for pragmatic cooperation in the new circumstances. Through reforms in this period, China further expanded its foreign aid with more notable effects.

In the 21st century, especially since 2004, on the basis of sustained and rapid economic growth and enhanced overall national strength, China's financial resources for foreign aid have increased rapidly, averaging 29.4 percent from 2004 to 2009. In addition to deciding aid projects arranged through traditional bilateral channels, group consultations were held by China with recipient countries at the international and regional levels. The Chinese government announced a series of well-targeted foreign aid policies at many international and regional conferences, such as the UN High-Level Meeting on Financing for Development, UN High-Level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China-ASEAN Leaders Meeting, China-Caribbean Economic & Trade Cooperation Forum, China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development & Cooperation Forum, and Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries, to strengthen foreign aid in the fields of agriculture, infrastructure, education, healthcare, human resources, and clean energy. In August 2010, the Chinese government held the National Conference on Foreign Aid to summarize its experience of foreign aid work, and define the major tasks for strengthening and improving foreign aid in new circumstances. China's foreign aid thus entered a new stage.

China's foreign aid policy has distinct characteristics of the times. It is suited both to China's actual conditions and the needs of the recipient countries. China has been constantly enriching, improving and developing the Eight Principles for Economic Aid and Technical Assistance to Other Countries - the guiding principles of China's foreign aid put forward in the 1960s. China is the world's largest developing country, with a large population, a poor foundation and uneven economic development. 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.

Basic features of China's foreign aid policy are as follows:

Unremittingly helping recipient countries build up their self-development capacity. Practice has proved that a country's development depends mainly on its own strength. In providing foreign aid, China does its best to help recipient countries to foster local personnel and technical forces, build infrastructure, and develop and use domestic resources, so as to lay a foundation for future development and embarkation on the road of self-reliance and independent development.

Imposing no political conditions. China upholds the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, respects recipient countries' right to independently select their own path and model of development, and believes that every country should explore a development path suitable to its actual conditions. China never uses foreign aid as a means to interfere in recipient countries' internal affairs or seek political privileges for itself.

Adhering to equality, mutual benefit and common development. China maintains that foreign aid is mutual help between developing countries, focuses on practical effects, accommodates recipient countries' interests, and strives to promote friendly bilateral relations and mutual benefit through economic and technical cooperation with other developing countries.

Remaining realistic while striving for the best. China provides foreign aid within the reach of its abilities in accordance with its national conditions. Giving full play to its comparative advantages, China does its utmost to tailor its aid to the actual needs of recipient countries.

Keeping pace with the times and paying attention to reform and innovation. China adapts its foreign aid to the development of both domestic and international situations, pays attention to summarizing experiences, makes innovations in the field of foreign aid, and promptly adjusts and reforms the management mechanism, so as to constantly improve its foreign aid work.