US aid on pause, putting at risk refugee camps, demining and anti-polio campaigns in Asia
Despite a waiver by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, many development assistance and cooperation programmes are on hold. The US wants to reassess funding to see if they are in line with the new Trump administration, leaving room in Southeast Asia for China to fill.
Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The executive orders signed by Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration, 20 January, are already biting in Asia.
All cooperation programmes funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have been halted by the US State Department for 90 days to ensure that aid to developing countries is “efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda.”
Even though the new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, issued a waiver for basic necessities, such as food and medical assistance, several activities have stopped.
“Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” Secretary Rubio said.
As a result, health facilities for Myanmar refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered to close by tomorrow.
It is not yet clear whether some of them, run by the International Rescue Committee, will be able to continue operating following the State Department's waiver. The measure affects about 100,000 people in need of assistance.
While waiting for updates, dozens of patients in serious condition have been moved to state hospitals in Thailand.
"It’s scary because these refugees depend entirely on this assistance for their day-to-day health services,” said Nai Aue Mon, programme director of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), a grassroots organisation in southern Myanmar.
A representative of the Karenni Human Rights Group said that schools inside the nine refugee camps on the border with Thailand fear that funding will not resume. Teachers' salaries and funding for school textbooks are at risk since they are not deemed “life-saving”.
Humanitarian organisations dealing with demining have also been told to cease operations "with immediate effect". These include non-profit associations clearing land from unexploded munitions in Laos and Cambodia.
Due to heavy US bombing during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, Laos remains the most heavily bombed country in the world in relation to its population.
Only 10 per cent of Laotian territory has been cleared of unexploded ordnance, noted Sera Koulabdara, administrator of Legacies of War, which deals with the removal of anti-personnel mines in Southeast Asia, speaking to Radio Free Asia.
“Just this month in Laos, a 36-year-old man was killed while simply cooking, an innocent victim of an American war that continues to plague the country,” she said.
Cambodia received about US$ 2 million a year from the United States for demining activities.
Environmental protection programmes (particularly in the Mekong) and independent media organisations, like the Cambodian Journalists' Association or CamboJa, also reported that they face funding cuts because 20-30 per cent of their income was covered by US aid.
In Southeast Asia, most development aid comes from the Asian Development Bank, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, and Australia. Chinese aid in the region, on the other hand, which contracted between 2015 and 2022, is mainly directed to Laos, Malaysia and Brunei.
China's Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure investments, despite delays and downsizing in recent years, continue to play a major role. For this reason, many fear that the Trump administration's decision to halt development aid risks opening the door to further Chinese influence.
The United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organisation is also likely to have serious repercussions in Asia, above all in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which depend on aid from the United Nations agency to eradicate polio, explained Hanan Balkhy, regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
The disease, transmitted by a virus that can lead to paralysis and death, is still endemic in these countries. In 2024, Pakistan recorded 73 cases and Afghanistan 25, but political instability hampers childhood vaccination campaigns in both countries.
.png)
