China Wants to Become a Major Player in International Aid

In January, China published a blueprint for how it plans to become one of the world’s leading countries in international development. The white paper on “China’s International’s Development Cooperation in the New Era” released by the State Council updates two previous strategy documents and outlines Beijing’s ambitious plans to overhaul its current, rather limited, aid and development initiatives around the world.

But the paper also makes it clear that the Chinese don’t have any plans to conform their new aid agenda to those of Western-led international organizations and donor states. Instead, the new strategy talks about new “diverse forms” of aid and the integration of China’s development policies with other initiatives like the Belt and Road.