Tory wants aid to China stopped

A Conservative MP says it's time to "turn off the tap" of Canadian foreign aid to China.

Canada has given China over $1 billion in aid over a decade and will contribute $50 million this year, Tory MP Helena Guergi said in media release on Thursday.

"Every dollar that Canada gives to China, no matter how well intended, is a dollar that the Chinese government can spend on its military, space program and propping up other corrupt and abusive regimes like North Korea or Zimbabwe," she said.

Guergi asked why the Liberal government is giving money to a country that:
- Has the biggest army in the world.
- Abuses human rights.
- Has the second-largest economy in the world.
- Has a space program.
- Has a nuclear-weapons program.

China doesn't need Canadian aid, and has even been trying to buy up Canadian companies, she said.

Earlier this year, Minister of International Cooperation Aileen Carroll refused to end aid to China. "No, I will not," she said in response to a question in the House of Commons.

"China influences hugely and will continue to influence the international scene. As such, it is very much incumbent on Canada to continue to work with the groups to build freedom in that country, to develop human rights and to develop a rules-based society ...

"We are helping China grow and influence it in the right way."

On its website, the Canadian International Development Agency says aid to China is necessary because, despite its progress, it still contains 20 per cent of the world's poor and "some of the earth's most severe environmental problems."

Inequality between rural and urban areas, particularly in western China where women and ethnic minorities are "disproportionately affected," means "targeted measures are needed to address these imbalances."

The last shipment of UN food aid to China, wheat donated by Canada, reached the country in April.

China is now being encouraged to become a food donor.

"We need China's help and resources to apply the crucial lessons learned here to other countries still struggling with hunger," James Morris, executive director of the UN's World Food Program, said in a release announcing the final shipment to China.