Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
China has 700 million farmers and it needs grants in health aid
By Michael Hermann |
August 5, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
JACK C. Chow's article ("China's Billion-Dollar Aid Appetite" published in Foreign Policy last month) has spread over the media like a wild fire.
I wonder why he writes such a dis-informative article on the Global Fund's work and why he tries to politicize this global institution.
Why this extension of the usual commercial China-bashing into Global Health Policy?
Why does he state that "Even more alarming, China's persistent appetite threatens to undermine the entire premise behind the Global Fund?"
Until now, the GF never has limited the scope of any application, so China did not undermine any other country's chances to obtain a grant.
On which data does he base his claim that China "can more than pay for its own health programs?"
Why does he claim that the GF system has a "loophole"?
GF allows funding for HIV, TB and malaria-hit countries with a GDP up to US$12,195/capita (top GDP for upper middle income countries).
Any country could apply for any disease in any of the nine rounds, totaling 27. China has got 15 grants, Cambodia has got 15 grants, Bangladesh 15, Indonesia 17, India 20, Zambia 23.
Why does he try to imply that China in reality is a rich country, which evades its burdens by hiding in the wrong World Bank classification?
1.3 billion
China simply has the number of people it has - 1,328,000,000. They are all like you and me - moms and dads, sons and daughters, poor or middle class or rich - needing food, health, education, etc - like everybody else on this plant.
It will take another 30-40 years of peaceful continuous development of annually 8-10 percent growth to let these people reach the upper limits of the current eligibility.
Why does he NOT mention that China has one of the most alarming TB problems in the world?
Why does he NOT state that the GF for 10 years has worked objectively, technically oriented to solve global health issues withouth political cold war mentality?
Why does he NOT state that EACH AND EVERY proposal from China was rigorously checked, revised and approved according to the same global standards as all GF grants?
Why does he NOT mention that China implements most of its grants with A-rating - so it gets eligibility for continued funding?
Why does he NOT mention that China had a GDP/capita in 2009 of US$3,687, which places it in the rank of countries like El Salvador, Fiji, Angola and Albania?
The only number he provides the readers as background for his disgust at the GF grants to China is the foreign exchange reserve of US$2.5 trillion.
So what? What about a little primary school arithmetic?
China has a foreign exchange reserve of US$2.5 trillion, which is US$1,850 per capita. That is one-third of what Algeria has per capita (they have US$4,800), or 75 percent of what Thailand has per capita (they have US$2,380), or slightly more than Iraq (they have US$1,680).
All the three countries receive grants from GF.
Poverty
Foreign exchange reserves are not a way of judging a country's development. They are just a part of how GDP is produced, saved and allocated.
Mr Chow could ask UNDP for ways of evaluating the development of countries - eg the "Human Development Index."
Why does he NOT state that China has between 130-160 million people living below the World Bank poverty line standard of US$1.25/day in purchasing power parity?
Of course - with a Gini index of about 0.5 and all the glitzy Maybachs and BMWs in Shanghai and Beijing, a foreign tourist can be excused for forgetting about the 700 million farmers in China - but an analysis from his side should describe the real average China, not only the show-off stadiums on the east coast.
China is one of the most disaster-hit countries, with droughts, floods, earthquakes, etc - direct economic losses this year until July alone amounted for more than US$7 billion.
(The author is China Representative of Humana People to People. The views expressed are his own. Shanghai Daily edited and condensed the article.)
I wonder why he writes such a dis-informative article on the Global Fund's work and why he tries to politicize this global institution.
Why this extension of the usual commercial China-bashing into Global Health Policy?
Why does he state that "Even more alarming, China's persistent appetite threatens to undermine the entire premise behind the Global Fund?"
Until now, the GF never has limited the scope of any application, so China did not undermine any other country's chances to obtain a grant.
On which data does he base his claim that China "can more than pay for its own health programs?"
Why does he claim that the GF system has a "loophole"?
GF allows funding for HIV, TB and malaria-hit countries with a GDP up to US$12,195/capita (top GDP for upper middle income countries).
Any country could apply for any disease in any of the nine rounds, totaling 27. China has got 15 grants, Cambodia has got 15 grants, Bangladesh 15, Indonesia 17, India 20, Zambia 23.
Why does he try to imply that China in reality is a rich country, which evades its burdens by hiding in the wrong World Bank classification?
1.3 billion
China simply has the number of people it has - 1,328,000,000. They are all like you and me - moms and dads, sons and daughters, poor or middle class or rich - needing food, health, education, etc - like everybody else on this plant.
It will take another 30-40 years of peaceful continuous development of annually 8-10 percent growth to let these people reach the upper limits of the current eligibility.
Why does he NOT mention that China has one of the most alarming TB problems in the world?
Why does he NOT state that the GF for 10 years has worked objectively, technically oriented to solve global health issues withouth political cold war mentality?
Why does he NOT state that EACH AND EVERY proposal from China was rigorously checked, revised and approved according to the same global standards as all GF grants?
Why does he NOT mention that China implements most of its grants with A-rating - so it gets eligibility for continued funding?
Why does he NOT mention that China had a GDP/capita in 2009 of US$3,687, which places it in the rank of countries like El Salvador, Fiji, Angola and Albania?
The only number he provides the readers as background for his disgust at the GF grants to China is the foreign exchange reserve of US$2.5 trillion.
So what? What about a little primary school arithmetic?
China has a foreign exchange reserve of US$2.5 trillion, which is US$1,850 per capita. That is one-third of what Algeria has per capita (they have US$4,800), or 75 percent of what Thailand has per capita (they have US$2,380), or slightly more than Iraq (they have US$1,680).
All the three countries receive grants from GF.
Poverty
Foreign exchange reserves are not a way of judging a country's development. They are just a part of how GDP is produced, saved and allocated.
Mr Chow could ask UNDP for ways of evaluating the development of countries - eg the "Human Development Index."
Why does he NOT state that China has between 130-160 million people living below the World Bank poverty line standard of US$1.25/day in purchasing power parity?
Of course - with a Gini index of about 0.5 and all the glitzy Maybachs and BMWs in Shanghai and Beijing, a foreign tourist can be excused for forgetting about the 700 million farmers in China - but an analysis from his side should describe the real average China, not only the show-off stadiums on the east coast.
China is one of the most disaster-hit countries, with droughts, floods, earthquakes, etc - direct economic losses this year until July alone amounted for more than US$7 billion.
(The author is China Representative of Humana People to People. The views expressed are his own. Shanghai Daily edited and condensed the article.)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
