Q: In the 1960s, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway,
constructed with the aid of China, greatly promoted the economic
development of the two African countries. Meanwhile, sports and
hospital projects aided by China in other developing countries also
left good memories among local residents. However, in the past
decade, Chinese foreign aid items seem to decrease. Does this mean
that the guidelines of China's aid to foreign countries have
changed?
A: Since the founding of New China in 1949, the Chinese
Government has always regarded providing economic and technological
aid to foreign countries as an important part of its international
duties. Major modes of China's foreign aids included interest-free
or low-interest loans, free provision of complete sets of
equipment, technology and goods, as well as cash. By the end of
1978, China had provided aids to 66 countries, helping 38 of them
build 880 projects, and had won high praises from those
countries.
After 1978, in accordance with the changing situation, China has
adjusted and reformed its mode of providing aid. The adjustment and
reform are carried out in two stages.
The period from 1979 to 1994 was an adjustment stage in which
China studied and adjusted its methods of providing foreign aid.
After careful planning, China expanded the scale of its aid, mainly
helping recipient countries to develop small and middle-sized
projects, which were necessary and utilized local resources.
Meanwhile, China's aid was integrated with the multilateral
assistance of the United Nations, the self-collected funds of
recipient countries, and the assistance of international financial
organizations or of a third country. This promoted the common
development of the recipient country and China with relatively
small amounts of assistance capital, enhancing bilateral and
multilateral economic relations and trade. Additionally, China
adopted such modes as technological cooperation, managerial
cooperation and joint ventures for different aid projects and
according to different local conditions, and as a result increased
the efficiency and benefit of China's aid.
Since 1995, China has entered into a stage for a comprehensive
reform. As the economic restructuring deepened, China has also
carried out a comprehensive reform of its foreign aid policy. China
has adopted main assistance modes as follows:
Firstly, the Chinese Government provides grants or favorable
assistant loans, such as discount government loans, to recipient
countries for the purpose of expanding the scale and improving the
efficiency of foreign aid, promoting the investment cooperation of
enterprises from China and the recipient countries, and stimulating
the export of Chinese facilities, materials and technology.
Secondly, efforts have been made to promote the joint venture
cooperation in order to combine the aid capital provided by the
Chinese Government with enterprises' own capital and expand the
sources of capital and scale of assistance projects. In such a way,
the project achievement can be consolidated and the assistance
efficiency and benefit increased.
China provides aid to recipient countries without any political
conditions, and seeking no political privileges. Programs are
chosen with consideration of the social and economic benefit to
both parties.
Today the new assistance modes have been understood and
supported by more and more recipient countries. Chinese foreign aid
workers have been trusted and welcomed by the government and people
of the recipient country for their exquisite technology and
whole-hearted services. Many Chinese experts and engineering
technicians have received various honors from the government of the
recipient country.
In the future, China will continue to provide assistance to
recipient countries to the best of its ability, including providing
free aids, favorable loans and interest-free loans through project
cooperation and technological cooperation. At the same time, China
will further relax loan conditions and improve the mechanism of
providing assistance to foreign countries.