File photo:VCG

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the official end of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on Tuesday, after rapidly dismantling the government's foreign aid arm since President Donald Trump's return to the White House, The Hill reported.

Founded in 1961 as John F. Kennedy sought to leverage aid to win over the developing world in the Cold War, USAID has now been incorporated into the State Department, according to the AFP.

Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that with changing global circumstances, the US prefers to focus its resources on strengthening its own hard power, especially military power, rather than continuing its previous global aid model. 

In a statement marking the transfer of USAID to the State Department as part of Trump's unprecedented push to shrink the federal government, Rubio said the US is abandoning what he called a charity-based model and would focus on empowering countries to grow sustainably, Reuters reported.

Reuters cited Rubio's claim that this new model would prioritize trade over aid and investment over assistance, adding that it would put Washington in a stronger position to counter Beijing.

Commenting on Rubio's claims, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the US treats aid, investment and trade as tools in great power competition, essentially using them as interventionist measures driven by strategic interests. This approach leads to US foreign actions that harm others while ultimately hurting itself, even undermining the foundation of international cooperation and trust, he said. 

USAID's official shutdown also comes following a study published on Monday in the Lancet medical journal projecting that more than 14 million additional deaths could occur globally as a result of the US aid reductions, including 4.5 million deaths among children, per The Hill's report. 

Former US presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush made rare public criticisms of the US administration as they took part in a video farewell for USAID staffers on Monday on its last day as an independent organization, according to the Guardian.

Li said that for a long time, USAID's activities in many regions around the world, including the Middle East and Europe, have often involved political interference under the guise of "peaceful evolution."