UK Gives China Aid ?

I didn't think China needed aid... £50m ($100m)

news.bbc.co.uk...

Maybe I'm wrong but sounds strange.

In foreign policy 'aid' is synonymous with bribe. This does not surprise me, but I am not sure why the UK feels the need to pay up. Maybe their are some skeletons in the new Prime Ministers closet.

I would rather see foreign aid as "investment", it is always with an expected ROI. Even China is "investing" all over the world nowadays. Wrap it with a nice term like "aid" and you win the heart of the naive common people. I just hope that more than halve of this money is really being spent on the supposed aid purpose.

I just hope that more than halve of this money is really being spent on the supposed aid purpose.

That is not possible if the Chinese government handles money like the American government.


On a more serious note, these 'investments' are a bit questionable. What business does a country have donating money to another country without disclosing to its own public what the funds are being used for? 'Aid' is like a blanket statement that could mean anything from feeding the poor to killing panda bears. If a country has nothing to hide about its 'investments' I think it would be appropriate to have some kind of public accountability.

well, yes, it's unlikely, let's hope for 10%

Seriously, corruption is a huge problem in China. a senior official who was responsible for an economic development zone in Shanghai or so was just being convicted of corruption in China. Maybe he had received Brown during his tour

Accountability is certainly something that anyone giving "Aid" should check for, we are not talking about a few bucks or notes to the Red Cross by the common people, but about MILLIONS, if not BILLIONS of Tax payer money. I'm a bit lazy to research this specific British aid, it is supposedly for 'climate change', I assume something for the environment, so hopefully we do see something in reducing the pollution.

You will be surprised how more and more Chinese people are being environmental-aware made. Hard to close our eyes in places where you see polllution darken the sky, or colouring the rivers.

[edit on 2/4/08 by IchiNiSan]