Press briefing on background and outcomes of Anti-corruption Forum on Global Development Cooperation

Tian Lin, director-general of the Department of Supervision and Evaluation of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), had a press briefing on July 21 on the background and outcomes of the Anti-corruption Forum on Global Development Cooperation co-hosted by the CIDCA and China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on the same day.

The transcript of the briefing is as follows:

Reporter: The Anti-corruption Forum on Global Development Cooperation was successfully held today. How was the participation in this forum and what results were achieved?

Tian Lin: Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the forum was held online and all relevant parties attached great importance to the forum. CIDCA Chairman Luo Zhaohui and Vice-Minister of Commerce Qian Keming made keynote speeches at the forum's opening ceremony. Former secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, delivered a special video message to the forum, and ministerial-level officials from some countries, including Cambodia, participated in the forum and gave speeches. The forum's attendees were from a broad range of sectors, including representatives from beneficiary developing countries and representatives from donor developed countries, officials from competent government departments and heads of international organizations, government representatives, as well as diplomatic envoys in China, and  representatives of financial institutions, NGOs, think tanks and industry associations.

Luo summarized China's rich experiences of anti-corruption in the field of international development over the past ten years. First, China has gradually formed a concept of integrity-based development cooperation with Chinese characteristics; second, China has continuously improved the system of integrity-based development cooperation with Chinese characteristics; third, China has continued to promote the practice of clean development cooperation with Chinese characteristics; lastly, China has actively supported partners in strengthening capacity building in preventing and punishing corruption. He put forward four "Sunshine Initiatives" on continued anti-corruption in the field of development cooperation. First, we should insist on fighting corruption and strengthening accountability; second, we should adhere to multilateralism, joint prevention and punishment; third, we should insist on self-motivated restraint and conscientious anti-corruption; fourth, we should adhere to the principles of mutual respect, equality and learning from each other. The initiatives received positive responses and support from all participating parties. Focusing on the forum's theme of "Anti-corruption and International Development Cooperation: Ideas and Practices", the participating parties had lively discussions on "Development Aid for International Anti-corruption Cooperation" and "Zero-Tolerance to Corruption in International Development Cooperation", with many important consensuses reached. The forum was  a great success and played a positive role in promoting integrity building and anti-corruption cooperation in the field of development cooperation.

In his speech, Luo took a stern stand against the recent unwarranted attacks on China's foreign aid policy by senior US officials. He pointed out that the US has a poor record of foreign aid, has never shied away from using aid to seek selfish gains. For the initiatives put forward by the US, the tone is high, but they are difficult to implement, and they are all "bounced checks" and have become a game of numbers. China, on the contrary, does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and does not attach any political conditions. China's foreign aid largely contributed to economy, society and livelihoods of developing countries. We have been providing a large amount of food aid to foreign countries and recently we have also proposed the “Cooperation Initiative on Global Food Security”, making an important contribution to feeding people in developing countries. Facing setbacks in the world's economic recovery, pandemic ups and downs, and the worsening food crisis, all countries should be in the same boat and ride out the storm together.

Reporter: Please tell us about the forum's background. Why was it named Anti-corruption Forum?

Tian Lin: International development cooperation and anti-corruption are both important issues of great concern to the international community. For a long time, China has provided a lot of sincere assistance to various developing countries to help improve their livelihoods and pursue development. President Xi Jinping has advocated the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and proposed the co-building of the Belt and Road and the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which gives global sustainable development a clear direction. China has also made remarkable achievements in the field of anti-corruption. We adhere to a people-centered philosophy with the determination to fight all forms of corruption, and stick to the policy of "no restricted zones, full coverage and zero tolerance" in our fight against corruption. We have strengthened deterrence so officials don't dare to, strengthened the cage of institutions so they're unable to, and strengthened their vigilance so they have no desire to commit acts of corruption. We've secured a sweeping victory in the fight against corruption with further consolidation.

Anti-corruption is an important part of China's foreign aid and international development cooperation. On the one hand, China actively carries out integrity building in the field of development cooperation, gradually forms, improves and promotes the concept, system and practice of integrity-based development cooperation with Chinese characteristics; on the other hand, on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment, China actively strengthens international exchanges and cooperation in anti-corruption through foreign aid, supports various developing countries in strengthening their anti-corruption capacity building, and exchanges and shares successful experiences in the field, contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to the global anti-corruption cause.

At present, the changes and pandemic, both unseen in a century, are intertwined and the interests of all countries are more closely linked. It is in the common interests of all countries to strengthen anti-corruption in the field of development cooperation and make joint efforts to create high-quality and clean aid projects. It is often said that foreign aid is one of the noblest causes under the sun, and anti-corruption is there to ensure that power also operates under the sun. Therefore, the CIDCA and the MOC have decided to jointly build a new platform for exchanges on anti-corruption issues in the field of development cooperation, and named it the Anti-corruption Forum on Global Development Cooperation.

In September last year, President Xi proposed the GDI at the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly, and recently, at the High-Level Dialogue on Global Development, President Xi announced a series of practical measures to implement the initiative. In order to implement the aforementioned measures, the CIDCA will establish the Global Development Promotion Center and hold the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development annually to foster development partnerships. This anti-corruption forum is also an important event within the framework of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.

Reporter: How does China prevent and punish corruption in the field of foreign aid and international development cooperation?

Tian Lin: The Chinese government attaches great importance to the integrity of foreign aid projects, and is actively committed to creating clean and high-quality foreign aid projects. We insist on fighting every corrupt phenomenon, putting rules and prevention first, strengthening accountability, and addressing both the symptoms and root causes, actively build a rule-based anti-corruption governance system in the field of international development cooperation, enhance awareness and capability to prevent and punish corruption, and seriously investigate and deal with all kinds of corruption,  striving to eradicate breeding grounds for corruption.

The CIDCA, together with the MOC and other foreign aid implementation departments, continues to do a good job in political guidance, policy supervision and inspection from project initiation to implementation, and promotes efforts to form a multi-faceted mechanism with which the upstream and downstream of project management, Chinese and foreign parties, and multiple bodies can coordinate, so as to improve the legal, standardized and scientific levels of foreign aid project management. We focus on the application of results, innovate ways of working, promote supervision coordination on projects, audits and discipline, and enable supervision and evaluation work to happen at the same time. In the future, we will continue to strengthen the supervision and guidance of aid projects and the evaluation of their effectiveness, to ensure that where foreign aid projects are promoted, they will be covered by supervision and management and there will be integrity building.

Reporter: The Department of Supervision and Evaluation of the CIDCA has undertaken the preparatory work for this forum. Could you introduce the main responsibilities and work of the department?

Tian Lin:  The CIDCA was established in 2018 as part of the reform of the Party and State institutions. The Department of Supervision and Evaluation was set up for the first time within the agency in accordance with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instruction. General Secretary Xi Jinping asked us to strengthen supervision and evaluation, arrange project funds scientifically, and enhance the overall effectiveness of foreign aid. The main responsibilities of the department are divided into three parts: firstly, to organize and carry out supervision of the implementation of foreign aid projects under construction; secondly, to organize and carry out post-project evaluation of foreign aid projects; and lastly, to organize and carry out statistical surveys on foreign aid.

Since its establishment, the Department of Supervision and Evaluation, under the leadership of the Leading Party Members' Group of the CIDCA, has actively implemented the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the supervision and evaluation of foreign aid projects. Working together with related departments, we have established and improved  systems of supervision and management and specified work plans, promoting supervision items to be more specific, work to be more mechanism-based, and organization to be more coordinated, so as to “weave” a closer supervision network and follow up on foreign aid projects' implementation progress. We have established an evaluation management system combining the comprehensive evaluation, special evaluation and day-to-day evaluation of foreign aid projects, established standardized and scientific evaluation criteria, and carried out more than 10 evaluations of various kinds. We have formulated a statistical survey system for foreign aid, strengthened the construction of foreign aid statistical informatization, and organized a full-covered foreign aid statistical survey.

In the next step, we will continue to resolutely implement the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee, actively build a "great supervision" pattern coordinated by the CIDCA and jointly managed by all foreign aid implementation departments, promote the integration of in-process supervision, post-process evaluation and statistical survey of foreign aid projects, and guarantee the high-quality development of China's foreign aid and international development cooperation.