Taxpayers fund Chinese opera as foreign aid handed to overseas regions richer than parts of UK

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/21/taxpayers-fund-chinese-opera-foreign-aid-richer-regions-uk/

Posted by Low_Map4314

4 Comments

  1. ash_ninetyone on

    I don’t mind the concept of international aid and development. Hell, we’ve seen China grow into using it more and more for geopolitics. We should begin to look at where it is going. There are countries far more in need of it.

  2. > From 2009 to 2021, UK bilateral aid to China totalled £537 million. During this period, spending was highest in 2009, at £75 million. Aid was focused on priorities such as economic prosperity, climate change, and human rights.

    Which party was in charge during that time? But hey, they almost got there:

    > In 2021, then Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said aid programming in China from the FCDO would be reduced by 95%, to £900,000. Any continuing FCDO programmes would focus on promoting democracy and human rights.

    > In July 2023, the ICAI, which scrutinises the UK’s official development assistance, said UK aid to China has “fallen rapidly” and is expected to total £10 million in 2023/24 (centred on educational and cultural engagement, which did not form part of the government’s 2021 commitment).

    Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9762/

    Of course the Telegraph conveniently forgets to mention any of the above.