Dominic Raab slashes aid payments to China
Some of the money was being used to help Chinese firms compete with UK rivals
Dominic Raab has ordered aid payments to China to be slashed after it emerged Britain gave £71 million of taxpayers’ money to the Far East superpower in a single year.
Some of the aid money was used to help Chinese firms compete with UK rivals.
Beijing is currently threatening economic reprisals against Britain after the UK suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and banned Huawei from the 5G network.
China also stands accused of trying to steal coronavirus research from other countries through hacking, targeting a British cancer research firm, and committing human rights abuses against ethnic minorities.
In 2018, Government departments sent millions to China for projects including teaching its citizens to use technology, helping it settle business disputes and training teachers, a report published this week reveals.
Millions were given to the China prosperity fund, which gives money to schemes that “address market failures and weaknesses that impede China’s inclusive economic growth”.
The sum was a 29 per cent increase on 2017, the Department for International Development’s annual report shows, despite China’s annual GDP being five times higher than that of Britain.
On Wednesday night, Tory MPs demanded to know why taxpayers’ money was being sent to China when it was “breaking every rule in the book”.
Most of the money was sent by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Another £287.9 million was sent to India which, like China, has its own space programme.
On Wednesday, sources close to Mr Raab said aid payments to China and other “middle income” countries had been slashed after the Foreign Secretary took over the Department for International Development.
Britain’s international aid spending will be cut by £2.9 billion this year because it is linked to Gross National Income (GNI) which has fallen rapidly because of the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/07/22/dominic-raab-slashes-aid-payments-china/
