Chinese policy has aimed for the expansion of common standards for global economic and social development. In Chinese theory and practice, this is achieved through connectivity between countries and multi-layered global governance.
By Jing Gu / Institute of Development Studies
China’s growing role as a provider of development assistance, and the broader impact of its international economic engagement, has been the subject of considerable interest both within and outside China. The question of whether Chinese development policy is about cooperation or competition has fascinated the world. Whether their intentions are benevolent or power driven often dominates discussions. China’s new aid and security pact with the Solomon Islands is the latest case to raise the question of whether Chinese aid is developmental or a political.
Over the past decade, the concepts and policies of China’s development strategy have evolved dramatically. Since 2013, the volume and geographical coverage of Chinese foreign aid has increased steadily, marking a new era in development cooperation. From 2013 to 2018, China provided more than 27 billion RMB (US$ 4 billion) to other developing countries. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, China has provided humanitarian aid, in the form of personal protective equipment, vaccines and medical teams, to 53 African countries and the African Union.
China began providing assistance to developing countries in the 1950s. But aid is only a small part of China’s development cooperation, which also entails trade, loans and capital investments. Beijing’s 2021 White Paper lists technical cooperation, debt relief and projects as major forms of Chinese aid. Of these foreign assistance projects, most of the money is spent on economic infrastructure, followed by industry, energy and resource development, agriculture and developmental peace collaboration including United Nations peacekeeping operations.
China’s approach to global development has been shaped by two important policy frameworks on development in recent years. The 14th Five Year Plan, adopted in March 2021, focussed on the concepts of high-quality, sustainable growth and green development.
The second key policy framework is China’s ‘people-centred’ ‘new development philosophy’. The Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI) — intended to uphold the principle of ‘indivisible security’ — were proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on 21 September 2021 at the 76th United Nations General Assembly and the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference on 24 April 2022. Initially, the GDI was understood as an extension of previous projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) announced in 2013.
But both the GDI and the GSI are different in that they respond to emerging changes in the international sphere. They are designed to address significant challenges emerging from climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, tensions between China and the West, and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goal.
To reflect these changes, China established the Centre for International Knowledge on Development in August 2017. The purpose of the Centre is to research and communicate Chinese development knowledge. The Centre also researches the international competitiveness of other countries’ manufacturing capacity, financial stability, environmental sustainability and global public goods.
These rapidly evolving activities present both internal and external challenges for China and the world. The way in which these challenges and knowledge gaps are addressed will not only determine China’s internal governance on development issues, but also its external activities and initiatives.
Tension between the West and China has arisen over China’s approach to international development and Chinese multilateralism. These tensions are also evident in the case of development finance. But Chinese innovation in multilateralism and development is a complex picture. The Asian International Investment Bank clearly represents China’s wish to operate within the existing system of international development banking but, at the same time, achieve innovative changes.
The Bank closely follows Western concepts of organisation and rules and has achieved a great deal of Western participation. Its success depends on its credibility in world financial markets. It does not provoke significant criticism despite its departure from the institutional model of the World Bank and other regional development banks.
Developmental peace is another area of disagreement between China and the West. Disputes arise over whether economic rights have priority over political rights in the context of the Global South. While China does not formally prioritise economic rights, in practice they consider peace and stability in the Global South to be a key part of sound economic infrastructure and stable social development.
China is militarily involved in United Nations peacekeeping, but it does not involve itself in the development of political institutions, as it considers this to be a matter of domestic concern. But the logic and language of security and capital have changed over the last three years. Increasingly, peace and security dominate China’s development policy discourse.
China’s approach to international development and multilateralism is underscored by efforts to avoid the ‘Thucydides trap’, a situation in which war is likely to break out as one great power displaces another. China has attempted to steer away from this by promoting the philosophy of ‘a community with a shared future for mankind’.
Chinese policy has aimed for the expansion of common standards for global economic and social development. In Chinese theory and practice, this is achieved through connectivity between countries and multi-layered global governance. But the terms and conditions of cooperation agreements are often very general, and depend upon continued collaboration between parties without independent adjudication.
Clearly delineating the roles that the GDI, GSI and BRI can play in international development will provide clarity on China’s mission and help deliver its vision for the world.
Jing Gu is a Senior Research Fellow, Director of the Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development and Director of the China Centre at the Institute of Development Studies.
This piece has been sourced from the East Asia Review of the Australian National University.
Sera ya China imekusudiwa kupanua viwango vya kawaida kwa ajili ya maendeleo ya kiuchumi na kijamii ya kimataifa. Katika nadharia na mazoezi ya Kichina, hii hupatikana kupitia muunganisho kati ya nchi na utawala wa kimataifa wa tabaka nyingi. "Jing Gu Institute of Development Studies: ""Jukumu la China la kuongezeka kama mtoaji wa msaada wa maendeleo, na athari pana ya ushiriki wake wa kiuchumi wa kimataifa, imekuwa suala la maslahi makubwa ndani na nje ya China." Swali la kama sera ya maendeleo ya China ni kuhusu ushirikiano au ushindani limevutia ulimwengu. Mara nyingi majadiliano hutegemea nia zao za fadhili au za nguvu. Mkataba mpya wa msaada na usalama wa China na Visiwa vya Solomon ni kesi ya hivi karibuni ya kuibua swali la kama msaada wa China ni wa maendeleo au wa kisiasa. Katika muongo uliopita, dhana na sera za mkakati wa maendeleo wa China zimebadilika sana. Tangu mwaka 2013, kiasi na eneo la msaada wa kigeni wa China limekuwa likiongezeka kwa kasi, na kuashiria enzi mpya katika ushirikiano wa maendeleo. Tangu mwaka 2013 hadi 2018, China imetoa zaidi ya RMB bilioni 27 (Dola za Marekani bilioni 4) kwa nchi nyingine zinazoendelea. Tangu kuibuka kwa janga la COVID-19, China imetoa msaada wa kibinadamu, kwa namna ya vifaa vya kinga ya kibinafsi, chanjo na timu za matibabu, kwa nchi 53 za Afrika na Umoja wa Afrika. China ilianza kutoa msaada kwa nchi zinazoendelea katika miaka ya 1950. Lakini misaada ni sehemu ndogo tu ya ushirikiano wa maendeleo wa China, ambao pia unahusisha biashara, mikopo na uwekezaji wa mtaji. Kitabu cha Beijing cha 2021 kinaorodhesha ushirikiano wa kiufundi, kupunguza madeni na miradi kama aina kuu za msaada wa China. Kati ya miradi hii ya misaada ya kigeni, fedha nyingi hutumiwa kwenye miundombinu ya kiuchumi, ikifuatiwa na viwanda, nishati na maendeleo ya rasilimali, kilimo na ushirikiano wa amani ya maendeleo ikiwa ni pamoja na shughuli za kulinda amani za Umoja wa Mataifa. Njia ya China ya maendeleo ya kimataifa imeundwa na mifumo miwili muhimu ya sera juu ya maendeleo katika miaka ya hivi karibuni. Mpango wa miaka mitano wa 14 uliopitishwa mnamo Machi 2021 ulikazia dhana za ukuaji wa ubora wa juu, endelevu na maendeleo ya kijani kibichi. Mfumo wa pili muhimu wa sera ni China ya "watu-kituo" "falsafa mpya ya maendeleo". "Mapendekezo ya ""Mkakati wa Uendelezaji wa Ulimwenguni"" (GDI) na ""Mkakati wa Usalama wa Ulimwenguni"" (GSI) - yaliyokusudiwa kudumisha kanuni ya ""usalama usioweza kugawanyika"" - yalipendekezwa na Rais wa China Xi Jinping mnamo Septemba 21, 2021 katika Mkutano Mkuu wa 76 wa Umoja wa Mataifa na Mkutano wa Mwaka wa Mkutano wa Asia wa Boao mnamo Aprili 24, 2022." "Mwanzoni, mradi huo ulionwa kama ""mpanuko wa miradi ya zamani kama vile Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) iliyotangazwa mwaka 2013.""" Lakini GDI na GIS ni tofauti katika kwamba wao kujibu mabadiliko yanayotokea katika uwanja wa kimataifa. Mipango hiyo imekusudiwa kukabiliana na changamoto kubwa zinazotokana na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, janga la COVID-19, mvutano kati ya China na Magharibi, na Lengo la Maendeleo Endelevu la Umoja wa Mataifa la 2030. Kwa mujibu wa taarifa hiyo, China imeanzisha kituo cha kimataifa cha maarifa ya maendeleo mnamo Agosti 2017. Kusudi la Kituo ni kutafiti na kuwasiliana maarifa ya maendeleo ya Kichina. Kituo pia inachunguza ushindani wa kimataifa wa uwezo wa utengenezaji wa nchi nyingine, utulivu wa kifedha, uendelevu wa mazingira na bidhaa za umma za kimataifa. Shughuli hizi zinazobadilika haraka zinawasilisha changamoto za ndani na nje kwa China na ulimwengu. Njia ambayo changamoto hizi na mapungufu ya maarifa yanashughulikiwa itatawala sio tu utawala wa ndani wa China juu ya masuala ya maendeleo, lakini pia shughuli zake za nje na mipango. Mvutano kati ya Magharibi na China umezuka juu ya mbinu ya China ya maendeleo ya kimataifa na multilateralism ya Kichina. Mvutano huu pia ni dhahiri katika kesi ya fedha za maendeleo. Lakini uvumbuzi wa Kichina katika ushirikiano wa pande zote na maendeleo ni picha ngumu. Benki ya Uwekezaji ya Kimataifa ya Asia inawakilisha wazi matakwa ya China kufanya kazi ndani ya mfumo uliopo wa benki ya maendeleo ya kimataifa lakini, wakati huo huo, kufikia mabadiliko ya ubunifu. Benki inafuata kwa karibu dhana za Magharibi za shirika na sheria na imepata ushiriki mkubwa wa Magharibi. Mafanikio yake yanategemea uaminifu wake katika masoko ya kifedha ya ulimwengu. Haisababishi ukosoaji mkubwa licha ya kuondoka kwake kutoka kwa mfano wa taasisi ya Benki ya Dunia na benki nyingine za maendeleo ya kikanda. Amani ya maendeleo ni eneo jingine la kutokubaliana kati ya China na Magharibi. Mabishano hutokea juu ya kama haki za kiuchumi zina kipaumbele juu ya haki za kisiasa katika muktadha wa Kusini ya Ulimwengu. "Wakati China haipendekezi haki za kiuchumi rasmi, kwa vitendo wanaona amani na utulivu katika Kusini ya Global kuwa sehemu muhimu ya miundombinu ya uchumi thabiti na maendeleo ya kijamii ya kudumu. """ China inahusika kijeshi katika shughuli za kulinda amani za Umoja wa Mataifa, lakini haijishughulishi na maendeleo ya taasisi za kisiasa, kwa kuwa inachukulia hili kuwa suala la wasiwasi wa ndani. Lakini mantiki na lugha ya usalama na mtaji imebadilika katika miaka mitatu iliyopita. Kwa kuongezeka, amani na usalama huongoza mazungumzo ya sera ya maendeleo ya China. "Mtazamo wa China kwa maendeleo ya kimataifa na multilateralism ni alisisitiza na juhudi za kuepuka ""mtego Thucydides,"" hali ambayo vita ni uwezekano wa kuvunja nje kama moja nguvu kubwa displaces mwingine. """ China imejaribu kuepuka hili kwa kukuza falsafa ya "jamii yenye mustakabali wa pamoja kwa wanadamu". Sera ya China imekusudiwa kupanua viwango vya kawaida kwa ajili ya maendeleo ya kiuchumi na kijamii ya kimataifa. Katika nadharia na mazoezi ya Kichina, hii hupatikana kupitia muunganisho kati ya nchi na utawala wa kimataifa wa tabaka nyingi. Lakini masharti na masharti ya makubaliano ya ushirikiano mara nyingi ni ya jumla sana, na hutegemea ushirikiano wa kuendelea kati ya pande bila uamuzi wa kujitegemea. "Kutaja wazi majukumu ambayo GDI, GSI na BRI zinaweza kucheza katika maendeleo ya kimataifa itatoa uwazi juu ya utume wa China na kusaidia kutoa maono yake kwa ulimwengu. """ Jing Gu ni Mtafiti Mtendaji, Mkurugenzi wa Kituo cha Nguvu zinazopanda na Maendeleo ya Ulimwenguni na Mkurugenzi wa Kituo cha China katika Taasisi ya Mafunzo ya Maendeleo. Maelezo haya yametokana na East Asia Review ya Chuo Kikuu cha Taifa cha Australia.