China rises and rises, yet still gets foreign aid

[rpannier]

BEIJING — China spent tens of billions of dollars on a dazzling 2008 Olympics. It has sent astronauts into space. It recently became the world's second largest economy. Yet it gets more than $2.5 billion a year in foreign government aid — and taxpayers and lawmakers in donor countries are increasingly asking why.

With the global economic slowdown crimping government budgets, many countries are finding such generosity politically and economically untenable. China says it's still a developing country in need of aid, while some critics argue that the money should go to poorer countries in Africa and elsewhere.

snip

China is also one of the biggest borrowers from the World Bank, taking out about $1.5 billion a year.
Asked why China still needed foreign aid after making so much economic progress, the Commerce Ministry said that China remains a developing country with 200 million poor and big environmental and energy challenges.

The current debate spotlights the challenges of addressing poverty in middle-income countries such as China, India and Brazil, where economic growth is strong but wealth is unequally spread. After the U.S., China has the world's most billionaires, yet incomes averaged just $3,600 last year.

Roughly three-quarters of the world's 1.3 billion poor people now live in middle-income countries, according to Andy Sumner, a fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the U.K.

link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39361557/ns/world_news-asiapacific

[David__77]

1. China is a poor developing country.

There is no denying it - China's leaders certainly do not. Sixty years ago, China was mired in abject poverty and was feudal; now, it is rising, but it had a low starting point. China makes major contributions to world peace and stability.

[rpannier]

2. I hoped this came off as even-handed

I tried to take from the article both what the critics are saying and China's defense
I don't want this to turn into a China bashing post

I live in East Asia (Korea) and I've been to many countries in the region
The world is a very complex place and not everything is always cut-and-dry

[xchrom]

3. 200 million poor - that's a lot of poor.

And I can't see a time when 'development' can
Ever really deal with that.

There are - I think - limits to that growth we are seeing.

That in turn will limit just how 'powerfu' china can become.
Having massive #s of poor takes a lot of public resources.

[David__77]

4. China has ambitious but reasonable goals.

The leadership aims to achieve the level of "moderate development" by 2050. That is perhaps comparable to, say, Greece in terms of per capita income. There would still be poverty for sure, but China in 2050 would be leaps and bounds better off than today, just as today it is leaps and bounds more developed than China 40 years ago.

[Better Today]

5. If Isreal is any indication, seems we have no problem giving excessive

aid to countries that don't seem to need it anymore.