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December 2, 2016

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China taking a lead in aid and peacekeeping

CHINA has provided about 400 billion yuan (US$58 billion) in development aid to 166 countries and international organizations over the past 60 years, a white paper issued yesterday said.

According to “The Right to Development: China’s Philosophy, Practice and Contribution,” the world’s second largest economy has trained more than 12 million personnel from developing countries and dispatched over 600,000 people to aid development in other countries.

Among them, 700 had given their lives in the course of these programs.

The white paper noted that China has absorbed about 23 percent of exports from the world’s least developing countries since 2008, adding that it will set up a South-South Cooperation Fund to improve economic growth and living standards.

It will also increase its investment in the least developing countries, write off certain countries’ debts, establish an International Development Knowledge Center, and further its Belt and Road trade initiative, the white paper said.

In the next five years, China will implement six “One Hundred Programs” targeting developing countries — 100 poverty reduction programs, 100 agricultural cooperation programs, 100 trade aid programs, 100 eco-protection and climate change programs, 100 hospitals and clinics, and 100 schools and vocational training centers.

In addition, 120,000 training opportunities in China and 150,000 scholarships will be available to developing countries, and 500,000 vocational technical personnel will be trained for developing countries, the white paper said.

It also said China is a staunch contributor to international peacekeeping, with 33,000 military, police and civilian personnel joining UN peacekeeping missions to date.

Currently there are 2,600-plus Chinese personnel involved in 10 such operations, making China the most active permanent member of the UN Security Council in terms of supplying peacekeeping personnel, the white paper said.

To support and improve peacekeeping operations, it said China will join the new UN peacekeeping standby mechanism, take the lead in establishing regular peacekeeping police force units, and organize peacekeeping standby forces.

Over the next five years China will train 2,000 peacekeeping personnel for other countries, launch 10 mine sweeping programs, provide US$100 million of military aid to the African Union, and allocate part of the China-UN Peace and Development Fund to support UN peacekeeping operations, the paper said.

“China joins other countries in safeguarding international peace, opposes all forms of terrorism, and supports international and regional cooperation in fighting terrorism, in order to create an environment of peace and harmony that promotes development and thereby consolidates peace,” it read.

It noted that in recent years China had offered solutions to regional flashpoints — by involving itself in the Iran nuclear talks, mediating for national reconciliation in South Sudan, and proposing a four-step framework for political settlement in Syria.

It also facilitated peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and promoted consensus on resuming talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.




 

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