Since the 1990s, a major part of Chinese foreign policy has been to invest in developing countries around the world.
This includes private investments, like the billion-dollar solar project being spearheaded by a Chinese energy company in Ghana or the multibillion-dollar canal being built by a Chinese infrastructure firm in Nicaragua.
It also includes public investment projects like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which was launched earlier this year to help fund infrastructure projects in impoverished Asian countries (and to reduce the amount of influence wielded by the U.S.-led investment banks).
On Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping made yet another commitment to help economic growth in the developing world, announcing that China would be canceling the debts of the world’s least developed countries.
President Xi made the announcement while addressing a United Nations summit on global development goals. During his speech, he also pledged to establish a $2 billion fund dedicated to improving conditions in the most impoverished countries around the world.
Sept. 26: Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit during the U.N. General Assembly in New York (Photo: AFP-JIJI)
“Looking around the world, the peace and development remain the two major themes of the times,”
President Xi told attendees at the summit in New York. He continued,
“To solve various global challenges, including the recent refugee crisis in Europe, the fundamental solutions lie in seeking peace and realising development. Facing with various challenges and difficulties, we must keep hold of the key of the development. Only the development can eliminate the causes of the conflicts.”
Xi’s speech came a day after the UN unveiled its new Global Goals for Sustainable Development, an ambitious plan that aims to eradicate poverty and hunger in the next 15 years.
Coincidentally, China played a key role in helping the UN achieve its previous poverty reduction goals as well — BBC correspondent James Robbins explains,
It was China’s extraordinary record shifting so many families out the ranks of the poor which ensured that the overall global record in poverty reduction under the previous Millennium Development Goals was substantial.
China’s new pledge of financial support, as well as its promise to forgive the debts of the world’s poorest countries, show a continued commitment to the goal of reducing poverty worldwide.
“The world is going through a historical process of accelerated evolution. The sunshine of peace, development and progress will be powerful enough to penetrate the clouds of war, poverty and backwardness,”
President Xi said.
Read more from the BBC. Read a full transcript of President Xi’s speech from Quartz.
Hi sir or madam
am in receipt of the 612billion cash ,i greet you in the name of the Almirgty,
many thanks mr president i will be in my way once the cash hit my Account, and the money will be used to invest in ministers in china,Bishop and Archbishop, china needs the gospel of christ, or isreal intervention ,money is not power knowledge is, power,
thank Rev Christopher Davies
A magnanimous gesture from China which should be emulated by all creditor nations.
This benevolent act which may run foul of being interpreted as dubious if viewed negatively, could also be positively supported, as meaningfully realising the communist ideals of wealth sharing by the community in the interest of accelerating peace and prosperity to the world.
It’s certainly a good development and encouragement, consciously or not by China, currently the world’s most talked about and admired self-made economic superpower, towards a tall order and belief that I have been dreaming and feverishly propagating, which is seemingly the coming into existence of a borderless One World One Dream community.
Given time, full awareness and worldly understanding, our togetherness, will encompass all barriers of entries and efforts of mankind towards our humanitarian mission of meaningfully fulfilling our noble vision of a One World One Dream community.
May, Planet Earth, be so blessed to thrive happily ever after, with this golden opportunity, sooner than later.
Cheers!!!
And yet the US gives millions to China every year in foreign aid. There is a lot of interdependence between China and other nations that make comparisons difficult of course.
I think this is a great thing from China, but being a communist super power, one would think they would have far exceeded the givings of democratic super powers. Really isn’t that what communism is all about?
Either way, I think they need to improve in larger ways, especially in the human rights domain, but this is one of several good steps and China might even start to come across as “Nice” in the near future. They might have used that money to help the extremely poor people in their own country…but it’s hard to blame them for doing the same thing every other powerful country does which is ignore internal problems they could handle efficiently and use the money inefficiently funneled through charity type programs.