STORY: Disparity in aid reveals hypocrisy of U.S. policy
DATELINE: Oct. 28, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:42
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the United States
2. SOUNDBITE (English): ERIC GARRIS, Director of Antiwar.com
3. various of the United States

STORYLINE:

On Oct. 18, U.S. President Joe Biden announced 100 million U.S. dollars in humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians during his visit to Israel.

Two days later, the White House asked Congress for 106 billion dollars for military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and other purposes.

The 1,000-time aid difference speaks clearly of the U.S. priorities: geopolitical interests over humanitarian causes.

SOUNDBITE (English): ERIC GARRIS, Director of Antiwar.com
"It's very dangerous what they're (the U.S. administration) doing all over the world. We spend so much of our tax dollars on war. All the government seems to be interested in is to stoke tensions and be the bully."

And even when the U.S. committed to providing aid to developing countries, it frequently failed to honor its promises.

As early as the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference, the United States and other developed countries pledged to provide at least 100 billion U.S. dollars a year to developing countries to fight climate change before 2020 and then maintain it through 2025. Yet in 2020 alone G7 countries made an 18-billion-dollar shortfall.

In September 2021, the U.S. government pledged 11.4 billion U.S. dollars every year to developing countries for clean energy transition and climate adaptation. In the following two years, U.S. Congress approved less than 1 billion dollars for each -- short of one-tenth of the promised.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)