More proof of the Rising Sun's
eclipse
By Hisane Masaki
Japan
The net amount of Japan's overseas development assistance (ODA) disbursements in 2006, which excludes yen loans repaid by developing countries, was down 11.7% in nominal terms and 9.6% in real terms from 2005. This was largely due to reductions in humanitarian relief aid after large expenditures for the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2005 as well as smaller amounts of debt cancellations, especially for Iraq.
In its recommendations on Japan's ODA policy, issued in May, Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), the nation's most powerful business lobby, criticized the 2006 report by the government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, saying it "gave the international community the impression that Japan's ODA budget was moving backward, and this left a black mark in Japan's foreign policy".
China's emergence as an aid donor has also added fuel to those calls for a reversal of the shrinking Japanese ODA budget. Japan is locked in an increasingly intensifying rivalry with China, a rapidly ascendant economic as well as military power, for economic influence in Asia and energy resources, such as oil and gas, in various parts of the world.
It is not known exactly how much aid China, already the world's fourth-biggest economy in terms of gross domestic product, is providing to other developing countries, but is widely believed to be already a larger aid donor than some other regular contributors. Chinese President Hu Jintao told the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that China would double its aid to Africa from its 2006 level by 2009, although he gave no figures.
Hu also promised the provision of $3 billion in preferential loans and $2 billion in export credits over three years and the establishment of a $5 billion fund to encourage Chinese investment in Africa. These pledges are part of Beijing's strenuous efforts to strengthen ties with Africa as it continues its aggressive search for new oil and other energy sources and export markets. More recently, China hosted the annual board meeting of the African Development Bank in Shanghai in May. It was the bank's first such meeting in Asia.
However, Japan and the other donor nations are increasingly critical of China's aid policy, especially in Africa, saying it lacks transparency. Oxfam Japan says, however, "Japan's expressed concerns over Chinese aid in Africa do not sound particularly credible with its own aid contribution falling and promises broken."
Rich nations should do more
Critics say the major aid donors should do more. The $103.9 billion spending on ODA in 2006 was less than a tenth of global
Page 1 of 2 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/IG17Dh01.html
Asia Times Online...
By Hisane Masaki (excerpts and it continues)
By Hisane Masaki
Japan
Jul 17, 2007
The net amount of Japan's overseas development assistance (ODA) disbursements in 2006, which excludes yen loans repaid by developing countries, was down 11.7% in nominal terms and 9.6% in real terms from 2005. This was largely due to reductions in humanitarian relief aid after large expenditures for the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2005 as well as smaller amounts of debt cancellations, especially for Iraq.
In its recommendations on Japan's ODA policy, issued in May, Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), the nation's most powerful business lobby, criticized the 2006 report by the government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, saying it "gave the international community the impression that Japan's ODA budget was moving backward, and this left a black mark in Japan's foreign policy".
China's emergence as an aid donor has also added fuel to those calls for a reversal of the shrinking Japanese ODA budget. Japan is locked in an increasingly intensifying rivalry with China, a rapidly ascendant economic as well as military power, for economic influence in Asia and energy resources, such as oil and gas, in various parts of the world.
It is not known exactly how much aid China, already the world's fourth-biggest economy in terms of gross domestic product, is providing to other developing countries, but is widely believed to be already a larger aid donor than some other regular contributors. Chinese President Hu Jintao told the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that China would double its aid to Africa from its 2006 level by 2009, although he gave no figures.
Hu also promised the provision of $3 billion in preferential loans and $2 billion in export credits over three years and the establishment of a $5 billion fund to encourage Chinese investment in Africa. These pledges are part of Beijing's strenuous efforts to strengthen ties with Africa as it continues its aggressive search for new oil and other energy sources and export markets. More recently, China hosted the annual board meeting of the African Development Bank in Shanghai in May. It was the bank's first such meeting in Asia.
However, Japan and the other donor nations are increasingly critical of China's aid policy, especially in Africa, saying it lacks transparency. Oxfam Japan says, however, "Japan's expressed concerns over Chinese aid in Africa do not sound particularly credible with its own aid contribution falling and promises broken."
Rich nations should do more
Critics say the major aid donors should do more. The $103.9 billion spending on ODA in 2006 was less than a tenth of global
Page 1 of 2 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/IG17Dh01.html
Asia Times Online...
By Hisane Masaki (excerpts and it continues)
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