LOL, China's pathetic aid to Philippines dwarfed by Ikea

China is the world's second largest economy and closer to the Philippines than other major donors of assistance to the typhoon-ravaged archipelago.

LOL, China's pathetic aid to Philippines dwarfed by Ikea 1384452957000-GTY-187973364

LOL, China's pathetic aid to Philippines dwarfed by Ikea 1384452957000-GTY-187973364

Yet the paltry $1.6 million in aid it pledged to its neighbor was less than the check written by Swedish furniture store Ikea.

"China's action illustrates the blundering nature of its foreign policy," said Phillip Swagel, a former assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department and co-author of Awkward Embrace: The United States and China in the 21st Century. "This is an unforced error for them, revealing to other countries the limits of Chinese friendship."

Typhoon Haiyan raked the island nation Nov. 7, causing at least 2,350 fatalities, destroying 236,000 homes and wreaking devastation so widespread that bodies have been piled on sides of roads for days and survivors have been desperate for food and shelter.

China's pledge, which it boosted after getting flack for its original offer of $100,000, is a fraction of the amounts pledged by other countries in the region and much farther away, including the USA, which pledged $20 million. Australia promised $30 million. The United Kingdom offered $16 million. Japan and United Arab Emirates each pledged $10 million. Ikea is sending $2.7 million, according to UNICEF.

An editorial in the Southern Daily, the Communist Party newspaper in Guangdong, accused Filipinos upset with the first offer of being unappreciative malcontents, according to the International Business Times, a U.K. publication.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/14/china-typhoon-haiyan-aid/3529729/

LOL, China's pathetic aid to Philippines dwarfed by Ikea

LOL, China's pathetic aid to Philippines dwarfed by Ikea

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