Wang Hanjiang, director-general of the Department of Foreign Aid poses in front of a cargo of foreign aid. (Kazuhiko Yamashita-Pool/Getty Images)By Chen Jinsong
Radio Free Asia
Sep 30, 2006
The World Bank recently held a meeting in Singapore, in which people were surprised to learn that China, who used to be the World Bank's largest client, is in fact, beginning to snatch business from the World Bank. According to a New York Times report, Beijing has increased its economic aid to Southeast Asian countries in recent years. China has thus gradually become the leading provider of economic aid to Southeast Asian countries in place of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United States, and Japan.
By relying on the absorption of foreign investment and development of foreign trade, China has accumulated a foreign exchange reserve of over US$800 billion, surpassing Japan to become number one in the world. As a means to spend such a giant foreign exchange reserve, Beijing is providing massive loans and construction funds to foreign countries, especially its neighbors. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has won a "good reputation" of being "generous", but it is based upon sacrificing and plundering the Chinese people. There are still 400 million people living in poverty in China and 50 million people do not have enough food or clothing. These people should be the first to receive aid. Unfortunately, the Chinese people, especially the Chinese farmers, who bear extremely heavy burdens, never receive any aid. Instead, they have historically been the object of plundering and exploitation. Government officials and business people in various places scheme together to continuously make forced and violent relocation and land requisitions. The following is a vivid portrayal of the aforementioned plundering and mass exploitation.
As early as the Mao Zedong era, the CCP exchanged massive food exports for the development of its armed forces. It was no different from seizing food from the common people. "Mao, the Unknown Story" written by Jung Chang, a British (Chinese-born) writer, and her husband Jon Halliday recalled that the first nuclear bomb made by the CCP cost US$4.1 billion. This is the estimated base price back then. If this money had been spent on food, it would have saved the 38 million people who starved to death in the early 1960's. This book concluded that Mao's acquisition of the first Chinese atomic bomb "caused 100 times as many deaths as the ones dropped by the U.S. on Japan".
Several decades have passed, and although the Chinese economy is no longer what it used to be, the CCP's policy of sacrificing the Chinese populace to realize its one-party ambition has never changed. The CCP is providing large-scale foreign aid in order to gain a few more "allies" to contend with the United States. Its ultimate goal is merely to maintain dictatorial rule in China.
The CCP's unprincipled foreign aid does not necessarily benefit the people of other countries. The loans offered by the CCP are attractive to Southeast Asian and African countries because the CCP will provide aid without considering whether the receiving governments are corrupt, or whether the relevant construction projects conform to environmental protection regulations. They certainly don't consider how much decision-making power the people of the receiving country have.
In contrast, The World Bank recently cancelled four plans to aid Cambodia, because its investigation discovered corruption in the Cambodian governments' purchasing process. The CCP however, does not consider this at all. In 2002, the then Premier Zhu Rongji visited Cambodia and waived its entire debt to China of US$220 million. This year, Premier Wen Jiabao visited Cambodia and generously provided economic aid in the amount of US$600 million. This is equivalent to the sum of all other countries' aid to Cambodia, including the European Union and Japan.
The CCP labeled its unprincipled foreign aid under the banner of "not interfering with other countries' internal affairs", which has caused a great deal of concern around the world. For instance, the civilized world is anxious that the CCP's unscrupulous policies in regard to foreign aid for despotic countries in Africa is offsetting the global effort to promote simultaneous development towards economic prosperity and better human rights in this area.
Civilized countries including the U.S. and the European Union are exporting funds along with progress, democracy, and freedom. The CCP on the other hand, is exporting funds along with totalitarianism, violence, pollution, and corruption. Fueling the entire mechanism, are the Chinese people, who have been victimized repeatedly over the last half-century. Overshadowing the entire situation are the disasters which such unrighteous acts have brought to people in other countries.
In reality, not all countries receiving aid from China welcome it. When the South Asian tsunami struck, Indonesia and Thailand declined China's disaster relief team (it was only allowed to help after China had reduced its size to just over 30 people). They were worried that the CCP would take such a situation as an opportunity to send in spies to ferret out military secrets. African countries generally complain that the CCP often breaks its promises. The China aided projects in Africa were oftentimes contracted out to Chinese construction teams, which is the equivalent of transferring from one hand to the other, while the African countries did not gain any actual benefits.
The recent Sino-African diplomatic crisis can best illustrate this situation. A road and bridge construction project in Madagascar was originally supposed to be funded by the World Bank. The President of Madagascar decided to hand the contract over to a Chinese construction company. However, it turned into a jerry-built project. Within half a year of completion the bridge collapsed and the road was partially destroyed, yet the Chinese construction team refused to recognize its mistake.
The Madagascan president was furious and refused to receive Wu Guanzheng, a member of the standing committee of the CCP Political Bureau, during an official visit. Instead he issued a diplomatic note to the CCP in protest. It thus spawned a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
By relying on the absorption of foreign investment and development of foreign trade, China has accumulated a foreign exchange reserve of over US$800 billion, surpassing Japan to become number one in the world. As a means to spend such a giant foreign exchange reserve, Beijing is providing massive loans and construction funds to foreign countries, especially its neighbors. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has won a "good reputation" of being "generous", but it is based upon sacrificing and plundering the Chinese people. There are still 400 million people living in poverty in China and 50 million people do not have enough food or clothing. These people should be the first to receive aid. Unfortunately, the Chinese people, especially the Chinese farmers, who bear extremely heavy burdens, never receive any aid. Instead, they have historically been the object of plundering and exploitation. Government officials and business people in various places scheme together to continuously make forced and violent relocation and land requisitions. The following is a vivid portrayal of the aforementioned plundering and mass exploitation.
As early as the Mao Zedong era, the CCP exchanged massive food exports for the development of its armed forces. It was no different from seizing food from the common people. "Mao, the Unknown Story" written by Jung Chang, a British (Chinese-born) writer, and her husband Jon Halliday recalled that the first nuclear bomb made by the CCP cost US$4.1 billion. This is the estimated base price back then. If this money had been spent on food, it would have saved the 38 million people who starved to death in the early 1960's. This book concluded that Mao's acquisition of the first Chinese atomic bomb "caused 100 times as many deaths as the ones dropped by the U.S. on Japan".
Several decades have passed, and although the Chinese economy is no longer what it used to be, the CCP's policy of sacrificing the Chinese populace to realize its one-party ambition has never changed. The CCP is providing large-scale foreign aid in order to gain a few more "allies" to contend with the United States. Its ultimate goal is merely to maintain dictatorial rule in China.
The CCP's unprincipled foreign aid does not necessarily benefit the people of other countries. The loans offered by the CCP are attractive to Southeast Asian and African countries because the CCP will provide aid without considering whether the receiving governments are corrupt, or whether the relevant construction projects conform to environmental protection regulations. They certainly don't consider how much decision-making power the people of the receiving country have.
In contrast, The World Bank recently cancelled four plans to aid Cambodia, because its investigation discovered corruption in the Cambodian governments' purchasing process. The CCP however, does not consider this at all. In 2002, the then Premier Zhu Rongji visited Cambodia and waived its entire debt to China of US$220 million. This year, Premier Wen Jiabao visited Cambodia and generously provided economic aid in the amount of US$600 million. This is equivalent to the sum of all other countries' aid to Cambodia, including the European Union and Japan.
The CCP labeled its unprincipled foreign aid under the banner of "not interfering with other countries' internal affairs", which has caused a great deal of concern around the world. For instance, the civilized world is anxious that the CCP's unscrupulous policies in regard to foreign aid for despotic countries in Africa is offsetting the global effort to promote simultaneous development towards economic prosperity and better human rights in this area.
Civilized countries including the U.S. and the European Union are exporting funds along with progress, democracy, and freedom. The CCP on the other hand, is exporting funds along with totalitarianism, violence, pollution, and corruption. Fueling the entire mechanism, are the Chinese people, who have been victimized repeatedly over the last half-century. Overshadowing the entire situation are the disasters which such unrighteous acts have brought to people in other countries.
In reality, not all countries receiving aid from China welcome it. When the South Asian tsunami struck, Indonesia and Thailand declined China's disaster relief team (it was only allowed to help after China had reduced its size to just over 30 people). They were worried that the CCP would take such a situation as an opportunity to send in spies to ferret out military secrets. African countries generally complain that the CCP often breaks its promises. The China aided projects in Africa were oftentimes contracted out to Chinese construction teams, which is the equivalent of transferring from one hand to the other, while the African countries did not gain any actual benefits.
The recent Sino-African diplomatic crisis can best illustrate this situation. A road and bridge construction project in Madagascar was originally supposed to be funded by the World Bank. The President of Madagascar decided to hand the contract over to a Chinese construction company. However, it turned into a jerry-built project. Within half a year of completion the bridge collapsed and the road was partially destroyed, yet the Chinese construction team refused to recognize its mistake.
The Madagascan president was furious and refused to receive Wu Guanzheng, a member of the standing committee of the CCP Political Bureau, during an official visit. Instead he issued a diplomatic note to the CCP in protest. It thus spawned a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
1 comment:
Any superpowers always think big. Just one seems to act better than another in a field but not on everthing.
Their generosity normally links with a silent perspective goal which is about to gaining long-term benefits from those who receive their aids.
People must bear in mind that "nothing free on this World!".
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