No abstract

China’s approach to International Development Cooperation (IDC) has been one of continuous evolution. The 2000s version of Chinese IDC applied a request-/project-centrism methodology, focused on the infrastructure sector, and mixed aid with business. Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the methodological dimension of the existing IDC model has changed by virtue of a growing emphasis on top-level design, sectoral programmes, and high standards for project implementation. How to explain these changes? Different from the conventional material-functionalist approaches, this article attributes the development of China’s IDC to cognitive evolution—an intra-community collective learning mechanism that drives changes in norms and practices. Cognitive evolution consists of the following three interconnected processes: uncertainty build-up; experimentation; and selection. Three factors that may shape the trajectories of cognitive evolution are as follows: the legacy of orthodox norms; the availability of transferable local ideas; and the communal interpretation of candidate ideas’ performance. The IDC model of the 2000s was constructed based on critical reflections on the internationalist foreign aid model of the Mao era and on the IDC policy community’s interpretation and transplantation of China’s development experience. The methodology of this IDC model—request-/project-centrism—has come under new pressure for change due to the BRI’s ambition to engender more substantial and sustainable developmental impact.

In the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, China provided medical assistance on an unprecedented scale. While some observers have underscored the strategic purposes of China's COVID-19 aid, referred to as “mask diplomacy,” they have yet to assess this argument against empirical evidence. We seek to examine whether China's medical aid was used as a strategic tool, or it remained reactionary and fragmented, by combining a new dataset on the global distribution of Chinese in-kind medical aid with a qualitative analysis of government and news reports during the first wave of the pandemic. Our findings show that although COVID-19 aid did have the potential to strengthen China's influence over recipients and promote Chinese knowledge of health governance, Chinese policymakers were underprepared to use aid strategically during the pandemic. The reactionary and fragmented nature of China's COVID-19 aid was reflected in its allocation, its policy-making processes, and its implementation.

From 2015, China began to promote eco-sustainability in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) through not only vision statements but also specific guidelines and governance initiatives. What has driven these policy changes? Bringing together theories of norm localization, norm subsidiarity, and policy deliberation, we argue that China’s move toward green BRI began as a norm localization process where environmental norms emerged in the open policy space created by China’s top leaders carrying the ambition to make the BRI a new global governance model. After adopting a broad norm on environmental stewardship, state bureaucracies found opportunities to create procedural and operational rules. A novel procedural rule-making methodology emphasizing inclusive dialogue with host countries has emerged, driven by top leaders’ pursuit of international leadership and preexisting local norms guiding South–South cooperation. With operational rules, different actors follow their preferences to localize existing international standards or develop new ones.