British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has announced a 95 percent cut in this year’s aid fund to China to 900,000 pounds, marking a strategic shift for Britain. Last year’s media revelation that the UK was giving up to 81 million pounds in aid to China led to public discontent in the UK.
According to British regulations, the government is supposed to allocate 0.7 percent of national income to overseas aid, but the government decided to cut this percentage to 0.5 percent at a time when the New Crown epidemic is hitting the British economy hard.
In terms of specific allocations, the shares that different countries can receive have also been adjusted this year. Raab confirmed that the UK’s aid to China was cut by 95 percent, leaving only 900,000 pounds. Raab said the £900,000 was for China’s “open society and human rights” and that part of the aid budget was to fulfill a previous contract.
In the total aid budget of 8.11 billion pounds, the British Foreign Office detailed various expenditures, including 906 million pounds for humanitarian aid. The funds are said to be focused on the countries most affected by famine, including Yemen, Syria, Somalia and South Sudan.
In a statement to the British Parliament, Raab said that this aid portfolio “marks a strategic shift for the UK, aligning our aid budget with our diplomatic networks, the development of scientific and technical expertise, and our economic partnerships to tackle global challenges together.
Raab also said that 1/3 of the foreign aid budget would be spent on the Indo-Pacific and South Asia regions, funding climate change, opening up societies and strengthening the UK’s post-Brexit trade relations. He also pledged to “get value for money for every taxpayer dollar spent.
The British government’s move to reduce aid to China has been welcomed by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, whose communications manager Danielle Boxall said, “Cuts in aid to China are long overdue.” “Previous programs such as helping China produce rice have been a reckless waste of taxpayer money.”
Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative Party leader who has been affected by China, said it was a welcome start and “I question why we should be assisting the world’s second largest economy.”
According to a survey conducted last year by the Taxpayers’ Alliance and One Big Media UK, the British government’s aid to China in 2019-2020 amounted to £81 million, mainly in the areas of According to a survey conducted by the “Taxpayers’ Alliance” and “a major British media” last year, the British government’s aid to China in 2019-2020 will amount to 81 million pounds, mainly for rice cultivation and opera.
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