Contextualizing “China’s Foreign Aid”: A Mixed-Method Synthesis on the Recent State of Debate on the Concepts and Criticisms of China’s Foreign Aid from 2005-2020

Abstract

This paper compares how Chinese and international scholars conceptualize China’s foreign aid. By analyzing recent Chinese and English journal articles on China’s foreign aid, this paper addresses the communication and research gaps between Chinese scholars and non Chinese scholars. This paper applies the general principle of systematic review to select eligible studies. It further combines content analysis and thematic analysis to figure out research topics and publication trends and compare scholars’ key viewpoints on the definition, motivation, implementation modes, and impacts of China’s foreign aid. The review synthesis results of this paper suggest that: (1) China’s foreign aid activities in the 21st century straddle the boundary between ODA-like state finance and other forms of economic cooperation. It will narrow the scope of the definition if scholars make “China’s aid” equivalent to ODA. Measuring the size of China’s aid is challenging because of its vague official definition and unspecified project implementation process. (2) Political and economic interests are two primary drivers of China’s aid allocation. Contemporary China’s aid prioritizes China’s economic interests in the globe while still has strong political preferences. Chinese scholars point out that China sometimes provides aid while sacrificing its own domestic development. (3) China’s infrastructure and construction projects attract the most international attention on account of their large project size and prominent diplomatic significance. International scholars show interest in examining the role of China’s State Owned-Enterprise in China’s large-scale project implementation process, while Chinese scholars point out that private companies and provincial institutions also play significant roles in China’s aid. (4) China’s commercially based aid and development model has proved to have remarkable and positive economic impacts on the recipient countries. However, China’s terms and principles of aid delivery may neglect local citizens’ welfare and interests and may show a certain nonchalance to important local governance issues. International scholars generally - 3 -hold critical attitudes toward China’s rise as a new donor. While debunking adverse claims on China’s aid from the western media, they also point out that China’s aid model has made some traditional donors reconsider their past theories and practice of aid and development. Chinese scholars affirm that China is not meant to challenge or join the existing OECD-DAC aid regime, while they also acknowledge that China’s aid policies and governance still have many drawbacks and require improvements.