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Updated Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:08 am TWN, By Frank Ching, Special to The China Post

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Disparity between Chinese and U.S.' humanitarian efforts

Because the rescue workers dispatched by Beijing focused on the missing Chinese, some accused China of only being interested in rescuing its own nationals. But this charge was strongly rebutted.

In part perhaps to counter such charges, Beijing announced on Sunday [Jan. 24] that it would send a 40-member medical care and epidemic prevention team to Haiti, along with 20 tons of medical supplies.

Nonetheless, China, now the world's second largest economy, has come in for criticism for the relatively small amount of aid it has provided to Haiti.

John Bolton, former American ambassador to the U.N., ridiculed the idea that China could replace the U.S. “Nobody looks to China to be a source of humanitarian assistance,” he said in an interview on Fox News. “They look to the U.S.”

Mr. Bolton also accused China of not providing more aid to Haiti because the country has diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not Beijing. He challenged Beijing to at least match the amount of donations offered by Taiwan.

As of late last week, Taiwan had sent US$5 million in aid while China had pledged US$4.4 million. But additional aid from both sides was expected.

China has in recent years succeeded in making dramatic inroads in Central and South America. It is clearly interested in ensuring that its image does not suffer as a result of the earthquake, even as that of the U.S. improves.

This Chinese concern was made clear in an article published in the online edition of the People's Daily, which speculated that American rescue efforts would help Washington strengthen its position in its “backyard” and added: “The U.S. will also take this opportunity to expand its influence on countries to its south.”

China has turned into one of the U.S.' key competitors in many realms but, when it comes to providing humanitarian aid, it is not in the same league as Washington ─ at least not yet.

As China continues to rise, it must develop a policy for disaster relief around the world and make it clear that the world can look to Beijing and not just to Washington for help.

Frank.ching@gmail.com

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Comments

April 3, 2011 ottawa_scuba_monkey@

China had a plane on the ground before the US. I was surprised to see that US planes had to return to US soil because the Haiti airfield was already overwhelmed with other aircraft. The live reports in Canada showed a Chinese rescue effort was well underway before the first US plane arrived.
BTW ... here's some facts from Wikipedia's account of the Haiti Earthquake:
A few days before the first anniversary of the quake, Oxfam published a report on the status of the recovery. According to the report, relief and recovery are at a standstill due to inaction from the government and indecision on the part of the donor countries. The report states, "One year on, only five percent of the rubble has been cleared and only 15 percent of the required basic and temporary houses have been built. House building on a large scale cannot be started before the enormous amount of rubble is cleared. The government and donors must prioritize this most basic step toward helping people return home".[247] Robert Fox, executive director with Oxfam Canada, said "The dysfunction has been aided unabated by the way the international community has organized itself, where pledges have been made and they haven't followed through [and] where they come to the table with their own agendas and own priorities. Most donors provided funds for transitional housing but very little money for clearing rubble or repairing houses". Fox states that in many instances rubble removal "means it was [moved] off someone's property onto the road in front of the property". [248][249]

According to a UNICEF report, "Still today more than one million people remain displaced, living in crowded camps where livelihoods, shelter and services are still hardly sufficient for children to stay healthy".[250] The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission was set up in April 2010 and led by former US President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive to facilitate the flow of funds toward reconstruction projects and to help Haitian ministries with implementation. As of January 2011, no major reconstruction has started.[247] Amnesty International reported that armed men prey with impunity on girls and women in displacement camps, worsening the trauma of having lost homes, livelihoods and loved ones.[251]

On the first anniversary of the earthquake, Haitian-born Michaelle Jean, who served as the Governor General of Canada at the time of the disaster and who was installed as Special Envoy for Haiti for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 8 November 2010, voiced her anger at the slow rate of aid delivery, placing much of the blame on the international community for abandoning its commitments. In a public letter co-authored with Irina Bokova, the head of UNESCO, Jean said, "As time passes, what began as a natural disaster is becoming a disgraceful reflection on the international community."[252]