In jab at China, US development official touts ‘big-hearted’ aid rooted in cooperation, ‘not debt traps’
- Private sector crucial to helping Washington advance policy goals in Global South as alternative to ‘never-ending foreign assistance dependence’
- Insights shared as US seeks to deepen foothold in Asia, where it is a dominant military power but struggles to match China’s economic leverage
American development aid officials sought to portray the US as “big-hearted” and “open for business” in a pitch to curb China’s sway in developing countries at a think tank conference in Washington on Thursday.
The US International Development Finance Corporation “is open for business,” said Naz El-Khatib, a policy official at the agency, launched in 2019 to bankroll international infrastructure projects.
The private sector had a crucial role to play in advancing the US’s development goals, El-Khatib added, stressing that the agency could offer a wide range of financial products directly to companies.
Speaking at the same Atlantic Council event about China’s role in the Global South, Michael Schiffer of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) made clear the agency was not seeking to “weaponise” its development aid for its own benefit.
USAID pursues “a big-hearted development model”, explained Schiffer, “rooted in cooperation and economic, trade integration and connectivity, not debt traps or never-ending foreign assistance dependence”.