UK Aid to China Falls by 90 Percent but Transparency Problems Persist

The UK’s aid engagement with China has fallen by some 90 percent since 2019, but there’s still too little transparency around how the money is spent, according to the aid watchdog. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), which scrutinises the UK’s official development assistance (ODA) spending, said bilateral aid to China has dropped from £80 million in 2019 to an estimated £8.2 million in the current financial year. However, transparency remains “insufficient—particularly regarding ‘administration costs,'” the watchdog said. It also said there’s a lack of transition planning for China’s expected graduation from aid eligibility. The UK has stopped sending direct aid to the Chinese regime since 2011 as the country became richer, but aid has continued via non-governmental programmes....