Should UK's charity begin at home?

Cash help for booming nations creates a media storm from critics of generous foreign aid budget

Domestic critics of Britain's generous overseas development program have seized on an official watchdog report revealing that the government continues to provide China and other new global powers with millions of pounds in aid.

"Britain is STILL handing out millions of pounds in aid to new superpowers," roared the right-wing Daily Mail, capitalizing its outrage at the news that the government's aid department may have misled the public into believing that assistance to countries such as China, India and South Africa had ended.

"Britain still secretly sending aid to China," echoed The Times.

The Daily Express quoted John O'Connell of the grassroots TaxPayers' Alliance as saying: "Taxpayers will be astonished that countries like China and India are still receiving aid at their expense."

The source of the indignation was a report last week from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which keeps an official eye on UK aid spending to ensure that taxpayers are getting value for their money.

The commission found that the government's Department for International Development had perhaps been economical with the truth when it announced that its aid program to China ended in 2011.

The finding was grist for the mill of those who argue that Britain hands out far too much foreign aid at a time of domestic spending cuts.

The fine print of the watchdog report was somewhat less dramatic than the headlines. It found that less than 10 million ($12.4 million; 11.7 million euros) a year was going to China, small change in terms of Britain's overall 12.2 billion aid bill.

Moreover, the assistance was not some kind of free cash handout but rather part of a cooperative program to provide British expertise to help China become a more effective donor and investor in developing countries.

On a study trip to Asia, the watchdog's officials found that "stakeholders in both China and India stressed to us that, even though the financial aid was no longer essential, they would appreciate continued policy advice and technical support".

The commission focused its criticism on the manner in which the department had wound down its aid program to countries such as China and its failure to explain fully to the public that some expenditure was continuing.

It quoted both Chinese government officials and some of the aid department's own local staff as saying the transition was too quick, with only nine months between the formal announcement of the end of bilateral aid and the closure of programs.

The watchdog gave no explanation for the department's seeming reticence about the continuing aid. It noted, however, that the original announcement of programme closures followed "sharp criticism in parts of the UK media of providing aid to countries that were increasingly important economic powers in their own right."

The commission report echoed the view expressed last year by Parliament's International Development Committee that the government needed to stand up for its policy of continued cooperation with countries such as China rather than handing ammunition to its critics by not explaining its perfectly legitimate activities.

Successive UK governments have pledged to spend 0.7 percent of the national wealth on international aid, around twice the level of its partners in the Group of Seven rich economies.

But for every politician who believes it is money well spent in terms of wielding Britain's soft power, there is another who believes the money is wasted.

Aside from critics who repeat the mantra that "charity begins at home", there are those who argue that aid to the poorest countries does not improve the lot of the "have-nots" but merely enriches the "haves".

Outside the traditional circle of Western donors, China is the biggest provider of foreign aid. However, Beijing's philosophy is to regard less-fortunate developing countries as business partners rather than aid recipients.

That means much of Chinese aid is in the nontraditional form of export credits, preferential trade arrangements and government support for Chinese companies investing in developing countries.

While the watchdog report suggests China appreciates the continued assistance it receives from Britain in advancing its own donor strategy, maybe there is an opportunity for China to offer some advice of its own.

The writer is a senior editorial consultant for China Daily UK.