Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A225-W116
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A225-W116
Release Date: August 27, 2006
发布日：2006年8月27日
Topic: Comparing the Food Aid Policy of China and the Democratic Countries -- Wei Jingsheng
标题：比较民主国家与中国政府的对外粮食援助 -- 魏京生
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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Comparing the Food Aid Policy of China and the Democratic Countries
-- Wei Jingsheng
Recently around the world there have been many unusual events. There have been a number of unusual events in China, too. Last time we discussed the case of blind Shandong province rights defender Chen Guangcheng. Second only to Chen Guangcheng's case is the story of China after Mao Zedong's time when it once again became a global exporter of food assistance. China followed the United States and the European Union as the third largest exporter of food aid. This activity led people to recall the time of Mao Zedong and his strategy for world revolution. At that time, the majority of Chinese people went hungry. Nonetheless, Mao Zedong gave millions of tons of food aid to the dictatorial governments of the Third World countries. At that time China was the third largest exporter of food aid as well, causing domestic Chinese to suffer terribly the indignity of this injustice.
I recall during the Cultural Revolution that people of Guangxi hijacked and looted a train full of food headed to Vietnam. The soldiers guarding the train evidently sympathized with the people starving in Guangxi; no one stepped forward to stop the looting. This sort of starving of its own citizens to support a foreign dictator's policies is the biggest reason the Chinese people opposed Mao Zedong. Of all the countries around the world only China could pull of such despotism. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European block never reached this level of cruelty. When Ukraine had major crop failures, even Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev did not send food supplies to their Third World friends.
The United States and the European Union have always been the world's largest providers of food aid. But their aid has been reasonable, which resulted in benefits to both recipients and donors. Furthermore the decisions are discussed in the legislature back and forth, after weighing pros and cons. Then the decided policy is carried out according to the law. Did Mao Zedong or Hu Jintao ever ask China's hundreds of millions of poor provincial citizens? Did those children and elderly who were starving agree to give away that much food to other countries? This is where China's foreign food aid policy is most illogical, and most illegal.
Those Chinese living in poorer provinces and regions probably not know it, but in donating food supplies to needy countries and regions by the United States and the European Union, there are three logical and lawful prerequisites.
The first prerequisite for provides food assistance is that there is a surplus of grain, which is to say there is too much for domestic consumption. Because of reasonable practices agricultural production quickly exceeded society's grain requirements. To keep the price of grains stable, and to protect farmers profit margin the government instituted a policy of reasonable prices. The left over food supplies are stored in warehouses. To the most, the United States and Europe store more than one year's yield of grain. And this trend has not been decreasing. However, storing is a waste of the national treasury's money. There are only two solutions; one is to reduce the coming years output, the other is to rationally use up the surplus. Providing foreign food aid is one way to deplete the surplus. Following World War II, which is also China's War of Resistance against Japan, part of the aid the United States gave countries victimized in the World War II was food aid.
At the time China also was one of the countries that received the aid. Those elderly living in cities as well as academics probably know that, at that time, the Chinese Communist Party incited a group of leftist intellectuals to start a movement in opposition to the United States wheat flour. The real reason is that American food aid lowered the price of grain; this upset the gain of a group of Chinese unscrupulous agricultural merchants. The saying that the Chinese Communist Party depended on the support of the proletariat to gain power is wrong. Before the Communist party ascended to power unscrupulous merchants, including those who benefited from them, the so-called "free intellectuals", was its greatest ally.
The second reason is humanitarianism. After World War II, European agriculture recovered quickly, and the need for food assistance began to decline. At this time the socialist movement in the Third World was growing and food shortages developed quickly. Great numbers of people found themselves starving. For humanitarian reasons, as well as to prevent aid from being seized by socialist leaders exploiting and using it for their own purposes, a portion of U.S. and European aid was paid in grains and foodstuffs. Gradually this became accepted practice. In addition, a specialized statute was passed to establish this policy officially.
The third reason is that in Western Democratic systems all sorts of corruption can also take place; all sorts of motives exist to seek gains at other's expense. In order to avoid humanitarian aid being used out of personal interest to damage the principles of democracy and liberty and to prevent humanitarian aid from harming the interests of democratic countries, the humanitarian aid recipient is required to comply with a number of restrictions. These restrictions enable the humanitarian aid to benefit the needy without damaging democratic countries national interests. This is why people can sense the concern for national interest in American foreign aid. But what is wrong with looking out for national interest?
These motives are natural and reasonable for providing assistance. Do not we Chinese use this reasoning too, this principle to decide whether we support or oppose the Chinese Communist Party's foreign aid? Thinking back to the 1950s or 1960s, at the time a majority supported the Chinese Communist Party's ridiculous policy of giving enormous amounts of aid to the so-called "brother countries". They starved tens of millions, but the people still supported these policies. People considered national interests to be their own personal interests, and they agreed this aid fit the national interest.
Starting from around the 1970s, at the time of the Cultural Revolution, people's hearts gradually fell away from the Communist nation. At this time people gradually started criticizing China's humanitarian aid program. By the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping's government was forced to cut back this aid program significantly. Why? Because this sort of aid conducted in the name of national interest, is not in accord with the common interests of the people. In reality, national interests are often contrary to the interests of us the common people. Hu Jintao's foreign food aid helped which country the most? It is the far worse North Korean dictatorship of Kim's dynasty that is preparing to damage the peace in Eastern Asia by making wars. This sort of aid we definitely oppose.
(Written in on July 20, 2006. Partially broadcasted by Radio Free Asia. The Wei Jingsheng Foundation is responsible for the accuracy of this version of the English translation.)
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中文版
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A225-W116
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A225-W116
Release Date: August 27, 2006
发布日：2006年8月27日
Topic: Comparing the Food Aid Policy of China and the Democratic Countries -- Wei Jingsheng
标题：比较民主国家与中国政府的对外粮食援助 -- 魏京生
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2006/report2006-08/WeiJS060827FoodAid2A225-W116.htm
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比较民主国家与中国政府的对外粮食援助
-- 魏京生
最近世界上怪事多，中国怪事也不少。上一集我们谈到了山东残疾维权人士陈光成的离奇案件。仅次于陈光诚维权案的一大奇闻，就是中国继毛泽东时代之后，又一次成为世界对外粮食援助的大国。援助额排在美国和欧盟之后，居世界第三位。这让人们回忆起毛泽东时代的世界革命战略。当时大多数中国人饿着肚子，毛泽东却把成百万吨的粮食运给第三世界的小玩闹。当时的对外粮食援助也是世界第三。引起国内人民的极大愤慨。
我记得文革时期广西人民就曾劫持并哄抢了援助越南的火车。看守列车的军人显然也是同情饥饿的广西人民，没有人出面阻止哄抢。这种饿着自己的人民去援助小独裁者的政策，是中国人民反对毛泽东的最大理由之一。这样的暴政，在全世界也只有中国干得出来。苏联东欧的共产党也还没有坏到这个水平。斯大林和赫鲁晓夫，在乌克兰大饥荒时，也没把粮食运给第三世界的小兄弟呀。
美国和欧盟一直是世界粮食援助的大户。但他们进行粮食援助合乎情理，于人于己都是一件有利的事。而且是在议会里反复讨论权衡利弊后，按法律执行的政策。毛泽东和胡锦涛问过中国的几亿贫困省份的人民吗？那些老人小孩正在挨饿的人民同意把那么多粮食白送给别人吗？这是中国的对外粮食援助最不合理、最不合法的地方。
贫困省和贫困地区的人民可能并不知道，美国和欧盟把大量的粮食用来援助贫困国家和地区，有三个合理合法的理由。
第一是因为粮食过剩。也就是说粮食太多了。由于政策合理，农业生产很快就超出了社会的需求。为了稳定粮价保护农民的利益，政府实行平价收购的政策。结果剩余的粮食就积存在仓库中，最多时美国和欧洲的粮食库存都在一年的产量以上。而且没有减少的趋势。库存本身就是在浪费国库的钱，就得想办法减少库存。办法无非两种；一个是减少来年的产量，一个就是合理的消耗库存。对外粮食援助就是消耗库存的方法。从第二次世界大战、也就是中国的抗日战争结束后，美国对战争受害国的巨额援助中，就包括了粮食援助。
中国当时也是受援国之一。城市里的老人和读书人可能都还记得，当时中共煽动下的一批左派知识分子发起运动，抵制美国面粉。其背景就是美国的粮食援助压低了粮价，不符合一批农产品奸商的利益。谁说共产党靠无产阶级的支持取胜，错了。在他上台前，奸商就是他的同盟军，包括吃奸商饭的所谓的"自由知识分子"。
第二个理由是人道主义。欧洲的农业在战后恢复得很快，对粮食援助的需求开始下降。这时候的第三世界社会主义运动开始兴起，粮食短缺的形势发展很快。人民开始大量的陷于饥饿之中。为了人道主义的目的，也为了使援助不被社会主义野心家们用于其它的目的。美国和欧洲的援助中的一部分，以粮食和食品支付，渐渐的成了通行的方式。并且为此制定了专门的法律。
第三个理由。在西方的民主制度下，也会有各种腐败的现象，有各种损人利己的动机。为了避免援助被谋私利者用于损害民主自由的价值观念；为避免援助产生有害于民主国家利益的后果，所以对受援助对象就有了各种限制。使得援助有利而不是有害于民主国家的国家利益。这就是人们能感觉到的美国对外援助的国家利益原则。这有什么不对吗？
这是自然而然应该有的理由。咱们中国人难道不是使用这个理由，这个原则来决定自己是拥护还是反对中共的对外援助吗？回想五、六十年代，当时大多数人拥护中共的倒行逆施，同时也都拥护中共对所谓的兄弟国家人民的巨额援助。饿死了自己几千万人民也没有改变这种拥护。因为大家认同国家利益就是自己的利益。使用的也是援助符合国家利益的原则。
大约是从七十年代开始，文革使人民的心渐渐远离了中共的国家。这时候大家渐渐的开始批评援助计划了。到八十年代初迫使邓小平政府取消了大部分的援助计划。为什么呢？就因为这种援助虽然仍按照国家利益进行，但这个国家利益已经不符合我们人民老百姓的利益了。实际上这个国家利益经常是我们人民老百姓利益的对立面。胡锦涛的对外粮食援助的最大受援国是谁呢？是比中共还坏的北朝鲜专制政权。是准备在东亚制造战争破坏和平的金家王朝。这种援助我们当然反对。
（于2006年7月20日。部分内容在自由亚洲电台播出。）
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