Q: In the 1960s, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, constructed with the aid of China, greatly promoted the economic development of the two African countries. Meanwhile, sports and hospital projects aided by China in other developing countries also left good memories among local residents. However, in the past decade, Chinese foreign aid items seem to decrease. Does this mean that the guidelines of China's aid to foreign countries have changed?

A: Since the founding of New China in 1949, the Chinese Government has always regarded providing economic and technological aid to foreign countries as an important part of its international duties. Major modes of China's foreign aids included interest-free or low-interest loans, free provision of complete sets of equipment, technology and goods, as well as cash. By the end of 1978, China had provided aids to 66 countries, helping 38 of them build 880 projects, and had won high praises from those countries.

After 1978, in accordance with the changing situation, China has adjusted and reformed its mode of providing aid. The adjustment and reform are carried out in two stages.

The period from 1979 to 1994 was an adjustment stage in which China studied and adjusted its methods of providing foreign aid. After careful planning, China expanded the scale of its aid, mainly helping recipient countries to develop small and middle-sized projects, which were necessary and utilized local resources. Meanwhile, China's aid was integrated with the multilateral assistance of the United Nations, the self-collected funds of recipient countries, and the assistance of international financial organizations or of a third country. This promoted the common development of the recipient country and China with relatively small amounts of assistance capital, enhancing bilateral and multilateral economic relations and trade. Additionally, China adopted such modes as technological cooperation, managerial cooperation and joint ventures for different aid projects and according to different local conditions, and as a result increased the efficiency and benefit of China's aid.

Since 1995, China has entered into a stage for a comprehensive reform. As the economic restructuring deepened, China has also carried out a comprehensive reform of its foreign aid policy. China has adopted main assistance modes as follows:

Firstly, the Chinese Government provides grants or favorable assistant loans, such as discount government loans, to recipient countries for the purpose of expanding the scale and improving the efficiency of foreign aid, promoting the investment cooperation of enterprises from China and the recipient countries, and stimulating the export of Chinese facilities, materials and technology.

Secondly, efforts have been made to promote the joint venture cooperation in order to combine the aid capital provided by the Chinese Government with enterprises' own capital and expand the sources of capital and scale of assistance projects. In such a way, the project achievement can be consolidated and the assistance efficiency and benefit increased.

China provides aid to recipient countries without any political conditions, and seeking no political privileges. Programs are chosen with consideration of the social and economic benefit to both parties.

Today the new assistance modes have been understood and supported by more and more recipient countries. Chinese foreign aid workers have been trusted and welcomed by the government and people of the recipient country for their exquisite technology and whole-hearted services. Many Chinese experts and engineering technicians have received various honors from the government of the recipient country.

In the future, China will continue to provide assistance to recipient countries to the best of its ability, including providing free aids, favorable loans and interest-free loans through project cooperation and technological cooperation. At the same time, China will further relax loan conditions and improve the mechanism of providing assistance to foreign countries.