Foreign Aid Strategies: China Taking Over?

Abstract

Over the past decade China has emerged as an important source of foreign aid for African countries. Providing aid on terms of its own choosing, China challenges the current foreign aid paradigm in four main ways: The donor-recipient relationship is challenged by a partnership of equals; The modes of provision are challenged by China's focus on aid that is mutually beneficial; The use of conditionalities is challenged by China's insistence on sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs; Multilateralism is challenged by China's preference of going the major foreign aid projects alone. This article argues that China's aid programme is not likely to undergo drastic change, and that the effects of China's foreign aid on the traditional donors are already discernible on the African continent. The potency of these challenges might herald that the Chinese approach will provide the frame of reference for foreign aid in the future.

Is there a Strategy in China’s Health Official Development Assistance to African Countries?

“…On the contrary, China declares allocating its ODA in response to the needs expressed by the recipient countries, according to a "win-win" strategy and following a non-interference principle (Lin et al, 2016, Second White Paper on China's Foreign Aid, 2014. In 2006, at the 3 rd FOCAC, Chinese leaders highlighted the principle of "mutual benefits" as an objective of the China-Africa cooperation (Kjøllesdal et al, 2010; Declaration of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, 2006/11/05).…”

Difference or Indifference: China's Development Assistance Unpacked

“…Some notable exceptions are Eadie and Grizzell (1979) and Ping (1999). For research on the topic after 2005, see Glosny (2006), Alden (2007), Lancaster (2007), Davies (2007), Woods (2008), Paulo and Reisen (2010), Kjøllesdal and Welle-Strand (2010) and Power et al (2012). 2 From 1970, the Chinese decided to increase aid to Africa under two political agendas.…”

“…The period from 1950 until the end of the 1970s, during which foreign aid was considered an important means of supporting anti-colonial movements in developing countries, shaped much of China's current aid policies (Burke et al 2007;Kjøllesdal and Welle-Strand 2010). A combination of economic and military support was initially provided, aimed at the liberation of oppressed nations.…”

NGOs and Political Change: A History of the Australian Council for International Development

“…In the 1980s, 4 Enormous capital flows into the United States following the oil shocks of the 1970s had the effect of dramatically reducing the availability of capital to poor and middle-income countries, thus forcing them to the IMF and World Bank for credit (Arrighi 2010). arguments for the suppression of civil and political rights continued to receive a sympathetic airing, as they may have to be sacrificed for the realisation of economic and social rights, which was central to the Asian values debate of the 1980s and 1990s (Espiritu 1986;Mauzy 1997;Korey 2001;Kraft 2001). While the West preferred international law to focus on civil and political rights, the rise of China as a major donor in the 2000s has now provided an option for those developing countries not agreeing with human rights conditionality from the West (Donnelly 1989;Kjøllesdal and Welle-Strand 2010;Shepherd Jr. and Nanda 1985).…”

“…With the end of the Washington Consensus and its replacement by the 'Beijing Consensus' (Kjøllesdal and Welle-Strand 2010;Kennedy 2010;Dirlik 2006), with a greater role for government in development and a singular focus on rapid economic growth, the scope for NGO involvement is considerably narrower as service providers and most certainly as civil society organisations with a voice representing the poor and marginalised (Halper 2012;Spires 2011). The challenge for ACFID and its members in this rapidly changing, and threatening, context is how to support its partners in developing countries which have hitherto been largely silent.…”