The Information Office of the State Council issued a white paper on China's foreign aid on Thursday. This is China's first official document summarizing the country's aid to other developing countries.

It lays bare the country's efforts to make its overseas development aid programs more transparent and bears witness to the fact that China is shouldering greater responsibilities in the international arena to the best of its ability.

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The white paper provides a detailed account of China's foreign aid policy, including the financial resources and cooperation in international aid activities, as well as the form, distribution and management of foreign aid.

Over the last six decades, while striving for social and economic growth at home, China has been engaged in foreign aid through multiple independent channels as well as bilateral or multilateral platforms. Its foreign aid endeavors have gained width and depth, covering an increasing number of fields, such as agriculture, industry, economic infrastructure, public facilities, education and healthcare.

A developing country itself, it regards helping those in need as laying the road to common prosperity for all and a noble cause. Statistics indicate that by 2009 China's accumulated foreign aid had reached 256.29 billion yuan ($38.83 billion).

China's foreign aid has not only contributed to South-South cooperation, but also the common development of humanity.

About 161 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, and East Europe, and more than 30 international and regional organizations have benefited from China's aid in various forms, with more than 80 percent of the aid devoted to Asia and Africa, home to the world's greatest number of people living in poverty.

All these figures are a forceful rebuttal of the accusation that China is using the excuse of being a developing country to shy away from its international obligations. Instead, they shore up the country's image as a responsible power shouldering international obligations within its capacity.

For years, China has explored a unique road in helping those in need: It follows the principle of equality and reciprocity; it does not impose political conditions on its aid. It seeks to cater to the needs of the recipient countries and provide tailored aid programs. China's practice is a marked departure from the aid programs of Western countries, which tend to be linked to their political and economic agendas.

Poor countries that are in dire need of support have very often been excluded from Western aid due to political or social instability and some African and South American countries were plunged deeper into poverty or social turmoil after they accepted the conditions that came with Western aid.

China's foreign aid model stands out as being unique, and it is little wonder that China's endeavors to aid needy nations have won the country a lot of friends in the international community.

(China Daily 04/22/2011 page8)