Chinese foreign aid and the erosion of media freedom

The effect of foreign aid on carbon emissions in recipient countries: Evidence from China

Nowadays, there is widespread skepticism, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation regarding China’s foreign aid to developing countries, and very few studies have been devoted even to the question of whether China’s aid causes the occurrence of civil conflicts in recipient countries. Existing knowledge, mechanisms, practices, and even values and goals of China’s foreign aid remain incomplete. This paper therefore examines the effects of Chinese foreign aid (broken down into project aid and development loans) on the incidence of civil conflict in Africa between 2000 and 2014. Analyzing the extent to which disaggregated Chinese foreign aid affects the incidence of civil conflict in Africa from 2000 to 2014 using annual country-specific data from AidData, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, World Bank National Account Data, Atlas Narodov Mira, and Ethnic Power Relations Dataset by conducting probit regression analysis, we found that the categories of development loan aid have explanatory power in reducing the incidence of civil conflict in a recipient country. This study concludes that Chinese foreign aid, especially Development loan aid that flowed to African countries during the study period, has explanatory power for reducing civil conflict. This study therefore seeks to contribute to scholars and policymakers by identifying the effectiveness of specific aid components that serve as key tools for donor countries to manage aid flows.

This research examines the impact and mechanisms of poverty alleviation associated with Chinese aid to African countries, utilizing comprehensive panel data from the 2000-2017 timeframe. A detailed exploration of salient indicators - the headcount ratio, poverty gap, and poverty severity - has been conducted to critically evaluate the efficacy of this aid. The study substantiates that Chinese aid meaningfully ameliorates the headcount ratio, lessens the poverty gap, and mitigates poverty severity in the recipient countries. Further examination of mechanisms reveals that the principal stratagem of reducing poverty resides in the proliferation of capital accumulation, fostering job generation, and advancing human capital development in the recipient countries. An assessment of varied outcomes demonstrates Chinese aid to be most potent in poverty alleviation in countries characterized by diminished per capita income and lower corruption indices. When compared, Official Development Assistance (ODA) exerts a more pronounced impact on curtailing poverty severity than other official aids, which have a more potent influence on reducing poverty incidence. Mixed aid-types demonstrate superior efficacy in decreasing poverty incidence, with development aid showing remarkable proficiency in addressing poverty depth and severity. This investigation significantly broadens the existing discourse on the poverty-reduction impact of Chinese foreign aid, offering invaluable insights and articulate points of reference for the enhancement of collaborative strategies in poverty alleviation policy between nations.

Fuel or power Africa? The impact of Chinese foreign aid on energy poverty

Nowadays there is a general skepticism, uncertainty, and misapprehension regarding China's foreign aid to developing countries, and very few studies have tried to answer the issue of whether China's foreign aid fails to foster economic growth in the recipient countries. Therefore, this study intend to examine the effects of Chinese foreign aid (disaggregated into Project Aid and Development Loan Aid) on gross domestic savings, gross domestic investment, and economic growth rate in African countries from 2000 to 2014 after a 1-year lag. To analyze the effects, multivariate regression analysis with fixed effect, random effect, and pooled OLS regression estimations were conducted. The finding of this study supports the theoretical hypothesis of a positive relationship between foreign aid, saving, investment, and economic growth rate, through documenting project aid and development loan aid categories impact positively on gross domestic saving and gross domestic investment. Development loan aid also predicted the economic growth rate. Therefore, these results predicted that project aid and development loan aid categories pour into African countries accelerated economic growth. This research also proposed that it would be better to identify the forms of aid flows when obtaining aid from the donor countries. Therefore, it attempts to contribute to the scholars and policymakers by identifying the effectiveness of specific aid components that serve as the key aid flow tool for donor countries.   Key words: African countries, Chinese foreign aid, economic growth, investment, saving.

Paper examines the effects of Chinese foreign aid on human rights performance in the recipient country.

China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has been increasing since 2002. As an emerging developing country, China has been assisting underdeveloped countries in order to maintain an image of being a major global economic power. The previous researches on FDI has focused on foreign direct investment (FDI) motives and FDI location choice. Few studies have empirically analyzed the relationship between China’s OFDI and foreign aid. Besides, the empirical researches on Chinese foreign aid and OFDI mainly focused on several developing countries, like, South Africa and Asia. This study empirically examines the relationship between foreign aid and OFDI by focusing on 83 countries that received Chinese foreign aid from 2003 to 2012. Using two dependent variables, outward FDI flows and outward FDI stock, we first test how aggregate aid affects them. We then examine the impacts of foreign aid by categorizing it into infrastructure and non-infrastructure aid. We further divide infrastructure aid into social infrastructure, economic infrastructure, and production activity aid to examine their effects on Chinese OFDI, following the classification standard of the Creditor Reporting System. We also controlled the macro-factors of recipient countries, such as, GDP per capita, inflation rate, trade openness, political stability, economic freedom and corruption level. Our panel analysis shows that aggregate aid effectively facilitates Chinese OFDI flows into recipient countries but has no significant effect on the stock of Chinese OFDI. Moreover, neither infrastructure nor non-infrastructure aid has significant effects on Chinese OFDI. We also find that none of the three kinds of infrastructure aid has significant effects on Chinese OFDI. While the analysis on control variables showed that trade openness and GDP per capita play a significant role in promoting the flows and stock of Chinese OFDI. But corruption level, economic freedom, and political stability affect the flows or stock of Chinese OFDI to a small degree, and all of them negatively affect Chinese OFDI. However, the control variable inflation showed mixed effects under different conditions. One important element which may affect the effect of the independent variables but not considered in this article is the region factor. As different region may have their unique characters, it is meaningful to further divide the object countries according to different regions in the future study.

The effect of China’s rapid development on Sino-US relations and the existing international order is an important theoretical issue in current international relations research. We use empirical research methods to explore whether and how China has influenced the results of US “vote-buying” in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through foreign aid. We find that through the mechanisms of foreign policy preferences, vulnerability and credibility, Chinese foreign aid has decreased US manipulation of UNGA voting. However, this is not a subjective strategic choice on China’s part but the objective result of Chinese economic development. Taking the game of Sino-US foreign aid in international politics as the entry point and squarely facing the structural contradictions and competition that exist between China and the US will help us understand not only the problems and obstacles China will encounter on its future developmental path, but also the necessity and difficulty of risk control in Sino-US relations.

China is emerging as a key state actor in international development – a sector that has been dominated by the United States for decades. US and Chinese foreign aid programs can be compared on the basis of several benchmarks: 1) official state definition and accounting of foreign aid programs; 2) historical foundations and origins; 3) sectoral distribution, particularly in terms of the professed goals and objectives of the aid program; 4) nature of targeted recipient actors; 5) institutional mechanisms for delivery in recipient countries. Notwithstanding particular differences, Chinese and US foreign aid portfolios demonstrate their respective strategic political and economic interests in two ways: they shape the domestic politics of recipient countries in ways that accommodate the donor government’s policy preferences, and they enhance the social reputation and legitimacy of the donor state in the international system.

Chinese Aid and Local Employment in Africa

The expanding profile of Chinese international development aid has generated strong academic and policy interests. A growing literature has emerged on Chinese foreign aid’s motivations, modalities, and impact. However, a significant lacuna remains in the domestic politics relating to this phenomenon. This gap is especially glaring in public opinion concerning China’s growing foreign aid programs. By analyzing empirical data gathered from a variety of sources, including a well-established online forum, social media sites of two influential media organizations, and multi-year surveys of residents of Beijing, this paper presents a nuanced picture of what the Chinese public thinks of Chinese foreign aid and tests two popular explanations of public opposition to foreign aid—perceived budgetary trade-offs and more general dissatisfaction with government policies.

From a political–economic perspective, this research examines the nexus between Chinese foreign aid and tourism demand in 138 recipient countries. Specifically, it investigates two mechanisms and their interplay: (1) an economic channel that entices an influx of international tourists through infrastructure development; and (2) a political channel that attracts Chinese tourists by diminishing political distance. A cross-country panel dataset on Chinese aid projects is analyzed. The results suggest that Chinese aid has a significant impact on Chinese tourists after a 1-year lag through the political channel, while the economic channel’s effect on Chinese/other international tourists is not salient within 5 years. Significant long-run equilibrium relationships are found between aid and both tourist segments. The economic effect emerges in the long term, while the political effect fades out. This study provides a novel political–economic perspective for tourism research and presents new insights into China’s soft power in global tourism.

Within the global warming context, heat stroke heavily threatens human health as the most severe type of heat-related illnesses. Despite the urgent onset, severe condition and poor prognosis, heat stroke is entirely preventable and treatable. Most of the recipient countries of Chinese foreign medical aid work are concentrated in the tropical and subtropical regions. It is necessary to popularize the knowledge of heat stroke and improve the ability of diagnose and treatment among foreign medical aid members, which is critical to enhance the quality of medical service and provide better medical care for recipient countries and workers in Chinese-funded institutions. This article reviews the latest research progress in the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of heat stroke to provide scientific reference for actively implementing interventions and reducing morbidity and mortality.

Since the start of the twenty-first century, a group of emerging economies has become the backbone of South–South development assistance. The development assistance provided by these countries, which falls under the framework of South–South cooperation (SSC), has its own unique features. In order to enhance the effectiveness of South–South development assistance and to expand its impact on the international development assistance system, it is urgent and necessary for the providers of South–South development assistance to thoroughly study the concept, principles, methods, and effects, to sum up the experience and establish a system for SSC. However, most South–South donors have problems with unsatisfactory data systems and incomplete statistics, thus it is difficult for researchers to conduct empirical analyses on the scale, sector distribution, regional distribution, and effects of aid. The more appropriate and constructive research method at this stage is therefore case study. This book presents 15 cases of China’s foreign aid. Each of the 15 cases provides a concise introduction to the project and focuses on its characteristics and effects analysis, which reflects SSC principles, experience, and practice, as well as current problems and challenges faced by Chinese foreign aid. Through all these 15 cases, we can thoroughly discuss the concepts, principles, methods, and effects of South–South development assistance, thus providing evidence for the establishment of a South–South development assistance framework.

Since the establishment of traditional Chinese foreign aid, the People’s Republic of China has participated as both a donor and a recipient in foreign aid mechanisms. This has become a major issue in international relations. Until the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank were established in 1994, Chinese foreign aid could be considered traditional. As the focus of this study, traditional Chinese foreign aid has gained a disparate place in the literature due to its high level of involvement with aid mechanisms, domestic economic resources and motivations. In particular, the relationship between the PRC’s foreign aid motivations and its economic resources showed how effectively mainland China applied the foreign aid mechanism, which has been one of the main issues of these international relations. This study examines the relationship between the different economic conditions and foreign aid motivations of the Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping periods and attempts to reveal certain continuities and changes between the two periods.