Working Paper 107 - China, Africa and the International Aid Architecture

This paper analyses China’s growing foreignaid and export credit programme as anelement of the changing international aidarchitecture. The paper finds that practicesgoverning Chinese aid and developmentfinance diverge from clear OECD standardsand norms on transparency and definitions,the management of concessional exportcredits, and the management of sovereigndebt. In the area of environmental and socialprotections, corruption, and governance, thepaper finds mixed results. Chinese norms onenvironmental and social safeguards areevolving rapidly. There is some evidence thatthe framework for development loans hasbegun to take these higher standards intoaccount. Regarding governance, both Chinaand the traditional sources of developmentfinance have rules that discouragecorruption in the procurement of aid, butexport credits are less well policed. Neitherseem to have rules for when or how aidshould be restricted when a pattern ofcorruption characterises an entire recipientgovernment. The global aid regime is notwell-institutionalised regarding democracyand human rights. Neither the IMF, the WorldBank nor the Chinese apply conditionality inthis area. Many bilateral donors do applysuch conditions, but relativelyinconsistently. Many still lack clear and firmstandards. In sum, Chinese practice is not asdifferent in this arena as often believed.

Fiction and fact

PRIFPRI4DSG

An Overview of Chinese Agricultural and Rural Engagement in Ethiopia

The recent expansion of Chinese economic engagement in Africa is often poorly documented and not well understood. This paper is the first in an International Food Policy Research Institute-sponsored effort to better understand Chinese engagement in Africa’s agricultural sector. A clearer picture of Chinese activities in agriculture is important as a foundation for Africans and their development partners to more fruitfully engage with an increasingly important actor. This overview paper explores China’s engagement in rural Ethiopia in historical perspective, focusing on foreign aid, other official engagements, and investment by Chinese firms between 1970 and 2011. We find that Chinese engagement in agriculture and rural development in Ethiopia is longstanding, but at present, Chinese farming investment is far smaller than generally believed. Changes in this engagement reflect the changes in China’s engagement in Africa more generally.Non-PRIFPRI1; Theme 6; Subtheme 6.2DSG

Structural transformation and China’s special economic zones overseas

PRIFPRI3; ISI; CRP2DSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

Economic statecraft in China’s New Overseas Special Economic Zones: Soft power, business, or resource security?

China’s growing economic engagement with other developing countries has aroused heated debates. Yet there has been relatively little research on when, how, and why the Chinese state intervenes in the overseas economic activities of its firms. We examine China’s program to establish overseas special economic zones as one tool of Beijing’s economic statecraft. We trace the process by which they were established and implemented, and we investigate the characteristics of the 19 initial zones. China’s state-sponsored economic diplomacy in other developing countries could play three major strategic roles: strengthening resource security, enhancing political relationships and soft power, and boosting commercial opportunities for national firms. We conclude that even in countries rich in natural resources, the overseas zones are overwhelmingly positioned as commercial projects and represent a clear case of the international projection of China’s developmental state. In Africa (but not generally elsewhere), they also enhance China’s soft power.Non-PRIFPRI1; GRP37DSG

Local entrepreneurs, networks and linkages to the global economy in Southeast Asia and Africa

This paper was originally prepared for the United Nations University/African Economic Research Consortium Conference on Asia and Africa in the Global Economy, Tokyo, August 2-3, 1998. It was revised in the stimulating environment provided by the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway. Thanks are due to both organisations (and particularly to the CMI librarians) for their support. The usual disclaimers apply