Voice of China

China gives a hand to world's poor nations

By Wu Jiao, Zhang Yuwei and Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-24 08:22

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao speaks at?a high-level plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at UN headquarters in New York, Sept 22, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

UNITED NATIONS - China vowed to step up its fight against global poverty on Wednesday as it announced reductions and relief for the world's least developed countries from their debt burden.

Premier Wen Jiabao made the pledge during the UN's high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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He also promised to offer another $200 million in emergency flood aid to Pakistan in addition to the $47 million China has already sent to disaster areas in humanitarian assistance.

Despite notable efforts made by China in meeting its MDGs, Wen noted there are still challenges in achieving them.

According to Wen, the next five years will be crucial if the MDGs are to be realized.

He said developed countries should honor their promises to help developing countries, especially those in Africa.

"Developed countries should fulfill, in good faith, their commitments and assume the main responsibility in assisting developing countries," Wen said, adding that the assistance should be selfless and have no strings attached.

"From now on, China will strengthen and improve its foreign assistance and contribute its due share to an early realization of the MDGs throughout the world," Wen said.

He detailed a six-point proposal to step up China's foreign aid efforts in the fields of education, medical care, trade, agriculture, personnel training and the reduction of debt.

According to statistics from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, China accomplished the objectives of halving the population stricken by poverty and hunger, popularizing elementary education and reducing child mortality. The department pointed out that China met those targets earlier than scheduled.

Of particular note was the fact that China was responsible for 70 percent of the people around the world who emerged from poverty during the past 20 years.

Premier Wen Jiabao and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attend a ceremony on Wednesday to launch a $40-billion global strategy to save the lives of 16 million women and children during the next five years as part of efforts to reduce global poverty, hunger and disease. [Photo by Yao Dawei/Xinhua]

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted China's successes in reducing poverty, saying it could serve as an example for many other countries. He made the remark when he met Wen on Wednesday afternoon.

The secretary-general expressed his appreciation of China's contributions to various UN peacekeeping operations and sought China's further support in Sudan, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Zhou Yiping, director of the special unit for South-South Cooperation at the UN, told China Daily: "Many developing countries have collected successful lessons by achieving their MDGs and they have developed innovations that their peers can borrow and adapt in their MDG implementation and these innovations are exactly what the least developed countries need."

South-South Cooperation is trying to establish a bridge to exchange resources, technology and knowledge between developing countries, so they can achieve their development goals together, he said.

Wang Yizhou, a professor at Peking University, said the new aid measures are the best evidence of China's increased global responsibility and shows that its ways of helping other nations have diversified.

"What we have done to help less developed countries is outstanding since China itself is a developing country," he said.

Wu Miaofa, former counselor with the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said that with its rapid economic growth, China has greatly expanded its aid to foreign countries in recent years.

"We are fully aware of the strategic importance of aid to foreign countries," he said.

Wu said China is fulfilling its obligation as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and as a growing international power.

"This will put pressure on developed countries that are either concentrating on their internal affairs after the financial crisis or offering aid to less developed countries with various political conditions," he said.

Wang Chenyan contributed to this story.