British Foreign Minister Raab.
The British government announced on April 21 that it would tighten its government aid budget and cut U.K. government aid to Chinese communist countries by 95 percent due to the outbreak of the Chinese communist virus (also known as Wuhan pneumonia, new coronavirus, COVID-19), a decision that was supported by cross-party British lawmakers.
According to Politicsweek.com, the British government originally pledged to spend 7 percent of its gross national product (GDP) on international aid, but announced that it would cut international aid to 0.5 percent of GDP due to last year’s Communist China virus epidemic.
British Government Cuts 95% of Aid to Chinese Communist Countries
Raab announced that the British government will cut aid to the Communist Party of China by 95 percent, allocating only 900,000 pounds to aid programs in the Communist Party and stipulating that the money will be used to promote an open society and improve human rights in China.
Raab said the British government cancelled aid to the Chinese Communist Party’s rice program because it was a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
Raab said, “This cut would be a move to properly and permanently reduce the ostentatious overseas aid budget.”
Labour MP Sarah Champion, chair of the House of Commons International Relations Committee, welcomed the British government’s decision. She said, “It is appalling that the British government is still providing aid to the Communist Chinese state at a time when it is cutting aid across the board to some of the world’s poorest countries, and I think the British taxpayer would rather see this go to countries on the brink of humanitarian crisis than be given to the world’s second largest economy.”
British Conservative Party MP Bob Seely also said that the Chinese Communist Party has more money than the United Kingdom and has the highest defense budget in the world and does not deserve British aid at all.
British government allocates 8.1 billion pounds for international aid in fiscal year 2021-2022
Raab announced that the British government plans to allocate 8.1 billion pounds for government development assistance (ODA) in fiscal years 2021 to 2022, accounting for 80 percent of the British government’s total aid budget. This amount will be used to seek to maximize its effect in Africa-like and to strategically lean toward the Indo-Pacific region.
He said, “The UK Foreign Office will be committed to ensuring that every penny of government development aid money achieves maximum strategic coherence for the UK, triggers maximum impact and gives value for money for the taxpayer.”
He described the UK government’s focus on core UK priorities such as alleviating poverty, getting more girls into school, providing urgent humanitarian assistance to those most in need, and addressing items that pose a global threat like climate change, recovery from the CCP virus outbreak, and other international health priorities.
Half of this development aid money will go to aid programs in Africa, with a major shift to East Africa aid that the UK considers to be of strategic national importance. This includes an allocation of £906 million for humanitarian preparedness and response, which will be used primarily to support the countries most affected by famine, such as Yemen, Syria, Somalia and South Sudan.
The British government will also use 1/3 of its government development assistance for countries in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia regions, mainly to fund projects such as climate change and open societies and to strengthen trade relations after Brexit.
Raab said, “This package strategy marks a shift in British strategy and means that the British government is linking the government’s foreign aid budget to our diplomatic networks, our science and technology and our technical expertise and our economic partnerships to address global challenges.”
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