China gave less aid to Pacific despite increasing engagement, Australian report says
- Chinese aid to the Pacific shrank by 31 per cent in 2019 to US$169 million, the Lowy Institute said in its Pacific Aid Map report
- Some factors could be that Pacific nations have become more discerning about their aid options, or China is more focused elsewhere, a researcher said
Chinese aid to the Pacific shrank by 31 per cent in 2019 to US$169 million, the Lowy Institute said in its annual Pacific Aid Map released on Wednesday.
Only the World Bank pulled back more that year, but that had been expected after aid tripled between 2017 and 2018 through an extraordinary burst of investment, said Jonathan Pryke, Pacific Islands programme director at the international policy think tank.
“There has been a consistent level of growing engagement from China in previous years and we’ve seen this sharp decline in 2019 which is against the narrative,” Pryke said.
The map is a database covering 66 donors and tens of thousands of aid projects in 14 Pacific island sovereign nations, which exclude the French territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia.